Interviews: Journey to healing of car accident survivors with PTSD
It’s been estimated that an average of six million vehicular accidents happen in US each year. With that, it’s no surprise that these events are one of the main causes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If you’ve been in a similar situation, you may have felt a mix of emotions like shock, anger, and fear. These feelings could’ve occurred at the time of the accident or the days and weeks that followed.
PTSD is a sensitive matter, but it’s not something you should keep to yourself. There are many people out there with the same experiences, so we reached out to some people and gathered real-life stories they were willing to share.
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An Interview with Accident Survivors Experiencing PTSD Symptoms
Nicole Vaughn
Nicole lives with her accident-survivor son, Max, who has 5 siblings living with them and two more siblings from his dad. Nicole describes Max as an amazing kid that loves unconditionally.
Can you share a little bit about the accident?
My son was 6. His dad ran off the road and into a tree. He was trapped in the truck between his grandmothers seat and the tree that smashed the side of the truck he was sitting on.
Due do being trapped, he witnessed his grandmother pass away in front of him. She had to be removed from the car before anyone could get him out.
From there, his dad was taken to one hospital and he was taken to a pediatric hospital. He was alone for about 8 hours until I found out what happened and where he was, and drove across states to get there.
They ran cat scans and xrays and multiple tests. He had to be sedated to have his broken arm set in a weighted cast.
When did the symptoms of the PTSD start? What were the first symptoms your kid experienced?
The first thing I noticed was he wasn’t as happy anymore. His showing of feelings was rather flat compared to before.
Then he started telling radical stories of kids in his class dying or threatening to bring guns to school which all turned out to be false.
He would only ride in a car with me and didn’t want to see his dad. When he was in a car he needed to be in control of speed.
He would tell me to slow down or when it was ok to go faster. This all started and some continues and he turns 10 this month.
Have you sought professional help immediately? How have you found the professional you’re consulting now?
We waited to seek professional help but did after about two months. It didn’t seem to help so we stopped.
Then about 6 months later we tried again with a different counselor and things were a little better in the first year and then flattened out.
We just switched to seeing a psychiatrist and a new therapist and are seeing much more improvement.
This route was recommended by my son’s pediatrician.
What was recommended to you to help with the symptoms? Did they work?
My son also developed ADD symptoms and it was recommended to try medication for that.
His ADD symptoms have fully improved with the medication.
Overall, do you think the PTSD symptoms of your child improved?
The new therapist actually sat with us to make a plan of action and we made lots of small goals that lead up to helping with his biggest worry (being trapped).
She was the first one to ask the right questions to see what was his worry to know how to work towards helping.
Though we’ve basically just begun this, I feel good about where we are headed now.
Any message to other people undergoing the same thing you’re experiencing?
My message to others would be: you are going to feel defeated, like there is nothing you can do to take this pain away from your child. That feeling will come back a lot.
When you feel the path you are on is not what they need, seek a new path. It’s ok to start over and it’s normal to feel this way. Cry when you need to, that’s ok too.
But keep going and advocating as persistence will lead you to the most helpful path to helping your child.
Aly Fenn is 20 years old and a married mother of two. She was 16 at the time of her accident. Aly and a friend were driving a green Honda CRV through the mountains, and she was riding in the passenger seat when the accident happened.
Can you share a little bit about the accident?
We were running late to meet my grandmother because we had slept in. I was trying to put my shoes on in the car. My friend was going about 40 mph on a very windy gravel road, and we almost went off the edge.
She overcorrected to the left, then back to the right. The car flipped about four times. I remember tucking my head between my legs in case the top of the car caved in and I said “God, please forgive me for my sins, but don’t let me die!”
I woke up and there was no one in the driver’s seat. There was dust, smoke, and items from the car everywhere. The car was back on all four tires, but it was rolling backwards. I was afraid it was about to roll off the mountain.
I looked up and saw my friend sitting in the middle of the road with this horribly shocked look on her face. There was blood everywhere. I grabbed my shoes and my phone, then jumped out the window into some kind of thorny bush.
I ran over to my friend and asked if she was okay, and she didn’t respond. She just sat there. She had been thrown through the driver’s side window and had glass all in her face. I took off running with no shoes on and ran for what felt like forever.
There were barely any houses on this 30 mile long road that we were right in the middle of. I finally found a house and yelled until the people came outside because their dog was trying to attack me.
Anyway, my friend wasn’t wearing her seat belt and ended up with several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, stitches in lots of places, a broken arm, and a broken collarbone. I had lots of bruises and scrapes, but physically I was fine because I had my seat belt on.
The ambulances came and after a while in the hospital, she made a full recovery. She is living a normal life now.
Immediately after the wreck, I was fine with being in the car. I was just sitting there staring in shock. My ears were still ringing.
When did the symptoms of the PTSD start? What were the first symptoms you experienced?
The first time I remember being afraid of getting in the car was when I ran into my (now) husband at a friend’s house and he asked if I wanted to ride with him somewhere. I told him I had just had a wreck and to not do anything crazy while he’s driving because I was still shaken up.
I was usually a dare devil adrenaline junkie, so he didn’t think much about it and drifted around some corners. I started screaming and cried. That’s when I first realized something was wrong. I will never understand why she is fine mentally, but the experience changed my entire life. I let it go untreated and still haven’t been treated by a doctor.
Here I am almost five years later, and my symptoms have taken over my life. I don’t ride in the car with anyone else driving. I don’t drive in the rain.
For a long time, I wouldn’t drive if it was cloudy because “it might rain”. I don’t drive when the roads are wet. I am absolutely terrified of thunderstorms or severe weather. I have OCD and am terrified of anything I can’t control.
I was always up for anything before my wreck, but I have only left the house to take my kids to the doctor and buy groceries for the last three years. My husband and I don’t go on many dates. It has for sure taken a huge toll on my life.
Have you sought professional help immediately? How have you found the professional you’re consulting now?