Psychiatric and occupational stress

Psychiatric injury—recognised psychiatric illnesses

It is common for accident victims to suffer considerable distress as a result of their accident or injury, particularly if the accident itself was very serious or if a fatality occurred. Generally speaking, such distress will not entitle them to bring a claim for psychiatric injury as a separate head of loss unless the claimant can prove that they have developed a recognised psychiatric injury or illness. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are common examples of psychiatric illnesses which can lead to successful claims if their cause can be linked to the index event.

If you are acting for the claimant, then you will not want to commission expert evidence unless you have good reason to suppose that some psychiatric injury has been sustained, as the cost of a report that is ultimately not relied on is unlikely to be recoverable at the conclusion of the case. Where a claimant has suffered physical injury and has also experienced extreme anxiety, distress or similar, the court is likely to take that into account as an aggravating factor in calculating the appropriate award for