crash details. Sometimes, a wall of denial, a protective device within human beings, takes over to keep from remembering painful details when you are not ready.
Emotional Impact
You may be experiencing feelings that seem foreign to you. You may be frustrated that you are having such a difficult time coping with your injuries, especially if you were a strong, independent person who usually saw crises as challenges. Feelings of helplessness and powerlessness may continue long after the crash. You may not only feel angry, but enraged. Your anger may focus on the substance impaired driver for having made the unthinkable choice to
Try not to push loved ones away as you experience emotions related to the crash.
drive impaired. You may have vengeful thoughts and wishes about the driver that trouble you, even though know you
wouldn’t act on such fantasies. Your anger can spill over onto others who may or may not deserve it — your family and friends, doctors and nurses, insurance agents and attorneys. You may be angry at yourself for not being able to avoid the crash, even though you know that you did everything you could to prevent it. If you are feeling angry, give yourself permission to feel it. You will benefit from learning to accept and express what you feel. Bottling up your feelings only increases your frustration.
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