There's often a component of emotional loss that comes with a personal injury, and many judges are willing to recognize this and reward it heavily in a successful personal injury trial. But since these injuries can be harder to prove than a physical injury, there are certain steps you should follow to make your claim work. 

Step 1: Make Your Case Solid

The emotional injury claim itself is not enough to prove your case. It needs to rest on a solid basis that shows you sustained a severe injury that was the fault of the defendant. Once you have successfully proven this, that's when it's time to bring up the emotional damage that occurred as a result of your injury. 

Your personal injury attorney will likely want to focus on pinning down the details of the injury first by collecting witness accounts, highlighting important details that show the severity and cause of your injury, and collecting facts that show that the defendant is responsible. 

Step 2: Decide What Types of Psychological Injury Apply

There are many potential psychological injuries that you can claim. Depression, fear and anxiety are all common outcomes for an injury that causes you to lose out on daily activities and causes a significant amount of pain. Aside from that, the trauma and need for catering can cause you to lose personal self-esteem, which can thwart your success now and in the future. Loneliness and loss of companionship are also significant emotional repercussions that you may want to discuss with your personal injury attorney. Discussing these things in front of a jury can be difficult, so work with your lawyer to understand how much you have to share in order to be successful in your claim. 

Step 3: Gather Evidence of Psychological Injury

Finding evidence to support your psychological claims is a bit tricky. It helps if you have been seeing a therapist regularly, especially if you started therapy shortly after your injury occurred. Your therapist may be able to act as a witness on your behalf, or at least release some records that show how often you have visited the office. It all depends on their confidentiality policy. For loss of consortium claims, you may be able to have a loved one talk about how your relationship has changed since the accident. For depression and anxiety, bring out any prescription records or have a close friend talk about the symptoms they have noticed. It will  be up to your personal injury lawyer to help you locate the right types of evidence. 

For more information, check out the site of a local attorney.