Sustaining a physical injury can impact your life indefinitely. Changes to your personality, your ability to work and your personal relationships can all happen as the result of a severe injury.
Your effort to recover completely will require adherence to your treatment plan. However, it is equally as important to address the emotional trauma of your situation as your mental health can directly affect your physical recovery.
Handling grief and shock
Even if you feel relatively confident about the state of your mental health, an unexpected injury may rattle your confidence and optimism. You may find yourself grieving your loss of independence even if it is both minor and temporary. You may also experience the shock that often accompanies a sudden accident.
If not addressed, feelings of grief and shock can trigger emotional disorders that worsen over time. Consequently, you could begin feeling depressed, anxious or suicidal. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, your post-injury treatment should not only focus on pain management but also methods for identifying and controlling mental illnesses related to your trauma.
Setting personal goals
Goal setting is an excellent way for you to push past self-doubt and feel anticipation for the future. You may also find that setting goals for your recovery aids in controlling negative thoughts. Sharing your vision with other people may improve your motivation, as well as help you to take accountability for your success.
Even though physical injuries are more noticeable than emotional trauma, treating only what you see may never resolve the mental anguish your accident caused. Working with your health care provider, you can identify a plan that touches on both physical and emotional aspects so you can attain a healthy mental state which can aid in your physical recovery.