Psychological injuries

A serious accident can leave psychological injuries alongside the physical ones — sometimes the psychological injury is what keeps a person from returning to normal life. California law recognizes these harms, but how they fit into a claim depends on whether there is also a physical injury.

It is general information, not legal advice, and it is not medical advice. If you are in crisis, contact 988 or emergency services.

Common conditions after an accident

• Post-traumatic stress disorder — intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance of driving or the crash location, hypervigilance, and being easily startled.
• Depression — often tied to pain, disability, lost work, and a changed body or role.
• Anxiety and panic — including specific fear of driving or riding.
• Adjustment disorder — difficulty coping in the months after the event.
• Sleep disturbance — which worsens pain, mood, and thinking.

Two ways it enters a claim

As part of a physical injury claim

When the accident caused a physical injury, the emotional and mental consequences travel with it. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, and loss of enjoyment of life are items of non-economic damage the jury may consider, and the cost of mental health treatment is economic damage. No special threshold applies — it follows from the physical injury.

Sources: CACI No. 3905A (mental suffering, emotional distress, anxiety, and loss of enjoyment of life as items of non-economic damage); CACI No. 3903A (past and future medical expenses). CACI citations are to the Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2026 edition).

As a standalone claim

Emotional distress without a physical injury can sometimes be claimed, but California limits it. A direct victim claim depends on a pre-existing relationship or duty. A bystander claim requires that the person perceived the event as it happened, was aware at the time that it was injuring the victim, was closely related to the victim, and suffered serious emotional distress as a result.

Two points about that middle requirement, because they are where these claims are usually won or lost. You do not have to have been physically at the scene. In 2024 the California Supreme Court allowed a bystander claim by a mother who was giving her daughter driving directions by phone and heard the crash without seeing it. And you do not have to have understood, at the time, that the defendant caused it. What matters is that you were aware the event was injuring your relative as it happened. The jury instruction now says a person can be "virtually present" at the scene through technological means.

Sources: Thing v. La Chusa (1989) 48 Cal.3d 644 (elements of a bystander emotional distress claim); Downey v. City of Riverside (2024) 16 Cal.5th 539 (a bystander may perceive the event by hearing it and need not be aware of the defendant's role at the time); CACI No. 1620 (direct victim) and CACI No. 1621 (bystander, revised July 2025 to include a plaintiff "virtually present at the scene through technological means").

Building the record without stigma

• Get evaluated and treated by a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist, and stay in care.
• Be specific with providers about symptoms and about what you now avoid or cannot do.
• Connect it to function — missed work, withdrawal from family, giving up driving or activities.
• Expect a records request for prior mental health history, and be ready to explain a baseline honestly. A pre-existing condition that the accident worsened is still compensable.
• A treating or retained mental health professional can explain the diagnosis, its cause, and the prognosis.

Sources: CACI No. 3927 (aggravation of a pre-existing condition); CACI No. 3928 (unusually susceptible plaintiff).

Which situations cause psychological injury

Car accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, dog attacks, assaults enabled by inadequate security, and being present for the serious injury or death of a close family member — see wrongful death claims.

Common questions

Can I recover for emotional harm if I was also physically hurt?

Yes. When you have a physical injury, the mental and emotional effects — anxiety, depression, PTSD, sleep loss, loss of enjoyment of life — are part of the non-economic damages a jury may consider.

What if I was not physically injured but was traumatized?

California allows some standalone emotional distress claims, but they are limited. A bystander claim requires that you perceived the event as it happened, knew at the time it was injuring the victim, and were closely related to them. You do not have to have been physically at the scene — the California Supreme Court allowed a claim in 2024 by a mother who heard the crash over the phone — and you do not have to have known who caused it at the time.

Will the defense get my mental health records?

If you put your mental condition at issue, your relevant treatment history usually becomes discoverable, including some records from before the accident. This is one reason to be deliberate about how an emotional distress claim is framed.

Does getting therapy help or hurt the claim?

It helps. Treatment is how a psychological injury is documented and is also how people get better. A claim of serious emotional harm with no treatment at all is harder to support.