Emotional distress may be one of the most difficult injuries to prove. Even if you decide to see a therapist or a psychiatrist to treat your distress, different professionals will form different opinions about the cause, severity and treatment of your condition. Unlike a broken arm or leg, there are no objective tests someone can point to prove your injuries.
It’s important to reflect on your symptoms before you seek treatment. Consider does your emotional suffering affect your daily functioning? Has it impacted your work performance or caused you to be late or miss work? Does it affect your sleep, appetite, or social life? It can be useful to keep a journal of these signs and bring it to your appointment.
While emotional suffering can be as severe, plaintiffs may have a hard time proving to a court they are entitled to damages for emotional distress. This is due to the difficulty with objectively proving your negative emotions are directly a result of the actions of those you are suing.
For those considering or pursuing a claim for emotional distress, here are five ways you may be able to prove your claim:
Intensity. The more intense the mental anguish, the better chance you have of proving that your emotional distress was severe enough to deserve compensation. In some cases, however — particularly, cases alleging negligent (rather than intentional) infliction of emotional distress, courts will typically require some sort of physical injury as well. Domestic violence is an example of someone intentionally trying to cause emotional and physical harm. In abusive relationships, it is helpful if 911 was called to document the incident or if the victim was seen soon after by a doctor or therapist.
Duration. Persistent and recurring pain that remains with you for a long period of time, like post traumatic stress, may also help prove severe emotional distress. Again, it is useful to have kept a journal to demonstrate timeframes when symptoms have occurred, and patterns.
Related Bodily Harm. While it may be difficult to point out evidence of the emotional distress, you may more easily provide evidence of related bodily injury like ulcers, headaches, and other physical signs of distress. In these cases request your physician perform tests to rule out physical causes for symptoms you believe are linked to the emotional distress.
Underlying Cause. The more extreme the underlying cause of the emotional distress, the more likely a court will find emotional distress. For example, surviving a bombing may be more likely to support a claim than being the victim of an ordinary read-end car accident that resulted in no physical injuries.
Professional Assessment. A note by a doctor, psychologist (PhD) or a Licensed Mental Health Professional (LCSW, LCPC) should be provided to support every claim.
You will typically need to incorporate several of these methods in proving your claim. For example, you may want to demonstrate both the intensity and duration of your distress and provide supporting medical documentation from your doctor for the psychological pain and any related physical injuries.
If you are making a claim for emotional distress, you will want to work with a personal injury lawyer. Our attorneys have the experience to guide you in this complex area of the law.