Cope After a Car Crash
Driving is less a mode of transport and more an obstacle course full of distracted drivers. A person's emotional state after a car crash is precarious. Helping a driver cope after a crash is critical in the complete recovery from a vehicle accident.
Instructions
1. Seek out friends and family that have been in car wrecks. Often sharing the car crash incident with others who have been through a crash helps a person cope.
2. Go back to the scene of the incident. Just seeing the surroundings of the crash can help trigger the person into opening up about the car crash. However, be careful because a crash victim may not be ready to return to the scene. Unfortunately, there is no rule of thumb that measures readiness. If they are not ready, put off the visit until later.
3. Understand that the severity of the injuries does not directly correlate to the trauma after a car crash. Even in minor car crashes, people can have posttraumatic stress. There can be various causes for this, such as triggering buried trauma from a previous car crash.
4. Listen. Often people who try to help others after a trauma take the incident from their perspective and make it about what they would feel. If the car crash victim asks for other perspectives, then feel free to give them. Otherwise just listen and let the person talk about what happened to them.
5. Take the car crash victim for a drive. When the time is right, take the victim out for a drive. Drive in less congested areas first, to acclimate the person to being on the road again. Then slowly advance the level of congestion until the victim feels comfortable on any road. Again, take caution and pay attention to the victims' verbal and non-verbal responses.
6. Pay attention to nonverbal cues from the crash victim. Even though a car crash victim may say they are fine, their vocal intonations and body language may tell a different story. Does the person tense up when in the car? Does the voice change pitch or tremble when talking about the car crash. These and other clues may intimate that the crash victim is still not over the incident.
Tags: crash victim, about crash, about what, after crash, Cope After