A traffic accident - and the invisible consequences of an accident

A traffic accident and the resulting serious injury often mean an extreme burden that can confront you with fears, excessive demands, worries and despair, whether as the person affected or a relative.

A serious traffic accident can be a traumatic experience not only for those involved. Experiencing an accident as a witness, first aider or first responder can also be traumatizing.

Visible wounds are usually treated immediately. But what happens to your invisible injuries?

It is therefore extremely important for everyone involved to recognize psychological wounds at an early stage and treat them immediately if necessary. Don't let the traffic accident cause you to suffer long-term mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or similar. Talking about your fears and worries has proven effective for many victims and relatives.

So try to get in touch with family members, acquaintances or friends to talk to them about your feelings and fears.

If talking to family members or friends is not enough, professional help may also be necessary in many cases. Talking to specialists from the medical, psychological or psychotherapeutic service can be helpful in such cases.

You can talk openly about your feelings!

You can and should talk openly about your fears, worries, excessive demands or despair, because worries weigh heavily and they do not depend on the time of day or opening hours. The telephone helpline has an open ear for all concerns and is available for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Phone: 0800/1110111 or 0800/1110222 or 116123

Mail and chat at: Telefonseelsorge.de

Where can I get psychological counseling and quick help?

If you, a relative or a loved one notice that you or someone else is in immediate danger, you should not hesitate to contact an emergency psychiatric service, the emergency services (112) or the police (110) immediately.

If you are currently experiencing a mental health crisis, you should contact your family doctor at short notice

• contact your family doctor at short notice,
• get in touch with a clinic with a psychiatric department in your area. You can find an overview at Klinikradar.de.
• Contact the medical (psychiatric) on-call service (nationwide telephone number: 116 117, Patientenservice)

or contact a help or advice center for acute crises. or contact a help or counseling service for acute crisis situations (see below)

What is a trauma and what can I do about it?

The first symptoms may appear during a traffic accident or immediately afterwards. This is known as an acute stress reaction. These immediate reactions often subside on their own after a few weeks, but can also persist and be perceived as increasingly stressful. Sometimes symptoms may not appear until several days, weeks, months and in rare cases even years after the accident. Common complaints are:

• Feeling numb
• Concentration problems, speech difficulties
• Restlessness, trembling, chills, sweating
• Increased blood pressure, shortness of breath
• Helplessness, anxiety, grief, sadness
• Anger, aggressive behavior
• problems falling asleep or staying asleep
• recurring images of the experience in your head

If you have noticed changes in yourself since the accident, this may be an indication of mental stress or illness. Even individual complaints can be a warning signal. Ignoring or not treating your symptoms can lead to a worsening of the symptoms.

You can find psychiatric help in designated trauma outpatient clinics. There you will receive prompt and free initial care from medical and psychological specialists as well as help with making an application under the Victims Compensation Act. Use the following links to access the victim protection portal of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. There you can use a search engine on the Internet to look for suitable addresses of counseling centers in your area:

Opferschutzportal NRW Traumaambulanzen (NRW victim protection portal Trauma outpatient clinics)

Opferschutzportal NRW Beratungsstellen (Victim protection portal NRW Counseling centers)

The Verkehrsunfall-Opferhilfe-Deutschland e.V. (VOD) (Traffic Accident Victim Assistance Germany) association is a collaboration between the cooperation partners of Verkehrsunfall-Opferhilfe Deutschland e.V. and the North Rhine-Westphalia police. It is the umbrella organization for the traffic accident victim assistance institutions of the following members, among others: Hilfefinder.de, subvenio e.V, the Institute for Psychological Accident Aftercare (IPU) and many others. It is based at the German Police University (DHPol). The VOD association can provide you with contact points for individual advice or processing of your case from the VOD member organizations.

Verkehrsunfall-Opferhilfe-Deutschland e. V. (VOD)
Traffic Accident Victim Assistance Germany

Telephone: 0800 806 33 38

Email: info [at] vod-ev.org (info[at]vod-ev[dot]org)

I need psychological help - here I can "check myself"

Together with the German Road Safety Council (DVR) and the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), the VOD association has developed an internet portal for road accident victims with psychological difficulties, which makes it easier for you to find counseling and therapy options. Find out more about the topic "Mental consequences after road traffic accidents" on the Internet portal Hilfefinder.de. You can use the trauma check to see whether you should seek professional advice. The help finder allows you to search for facilities in your area that can offer you quick help.

Hilfefinder.de (Help finder)

E-mail: Hilfefinder.de/kontakt

The Institute for Psychological Accident Aftercare and Psychological Health Promotion (IPU) is a private practice for psychotherapy, on whose website you can find information on the following topics:

• Psychological psychotherapy and psychotrauma therapy
• Psychological accident management for companies, businesses and organizations
• Seminars
• Psychological assessments
• Coaching and supervision

Institute for Psychological Accident Aftercare and Psychological Health Promotion (IPU)

Phone: 0221/9692039

Email: info [at] unfallnachsorge.de (info[at]unfallnachsorge[dot]de)

Further help is available from the German Institute for Psychotraumatology e.V. (DIPT).

The DIPT counseling center offers the following for accident victims:

• Special trauma diagnostics
• Psychotraumatologically based specialist counseling for dealing with acute traumatic experiences
• Help in finding:
  • Help finding contact points for special groups of victims
  • Trained trauma therapists for long-term outpatient psychotherapy
  • Specialist clinics
• In individual cases, supervision by advanced students of clinical psychology:
  • assistance with official visits and everyday life
  • childcare during counseling sessions
  • accompaniment to court hearings

On the DIPT homepage you will find an up-to-date list of psychotherapists and/or doctors who have acquired an additional qualification in the field of psychotraumatology.

German Institute for Psychotraumatology e.V. (DIPT)

Phone: 0221 / 390903 11

Email: beratungsstelle [at] psychotraumatologie.de (beratungsstelle[at]psychotraumatologie[dot]de)