General Damages for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

General damages for post-traumatic stress disorder compensate a recognised psychiatric injury, and Canadian law treats it as an injury rather than as an aggravating feature of a physical claim. The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that a claimant does not need a formal psychiatric diagnosis to recover for mental injury, though a diagnosis makes the claim considerably easier to prove. This chapter states how the award is assessed.

Mental Injury Is Compensable on Its Own

A claimant with no physical injury at all can recover for the psychological consequences of a traumatic event, provided the disturbance is serious and prolonged rather than the ordinary upset of daily life. That threshold comes from Supreme Court authority and is applied by trial courts across Atlantic Canada. The distinction matters most for people who witnessed a collision or who were assaulted without lasting physical harm. Decisions applying the test are published on CanLII.

What Courts Examine in a PTSD Claim

Intrusive memories, avoidance of the place or activity where the trauma happened, hypervigilance and disturbed sleep form the clinical picture. Judges look at the practical consequences instead of the symptom list. A claimant who has not driven since the collision, or who no longer sleeps through the night, is describing loss the award has to cover. Treatment records from a psychologist or psychiatrist are the strongest evidence, and a claimant who sought no treatment faces an obvious argument.

General Damages for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rise with Duration

Symptoms that respond to a course of therapy within a year are assessed modestly. Symptoms that persist for years, that resist treatment, or that end a career are assessed far higher, and the most serious psychological injuries are valued alongside serious physical ones. Prognosis evidence therefore matters as much as diagnosis. Where the claimant also has a physical injury, one award covers both, and the depression and anxiety chapter explains how overlapping mood conditions are handled.

Proving the Claim Without Over Relying on the Claimant

Psychological claims are attacked as subjective. The file needs voices other than the claimant’s to answer that. Evidence from a spouse or a supervisor describing the change is routinely decisive. Formal psychological testing helps where malingering is alleged. Trauma from a violent incident is handled the same way as trauma from a crash, and the firm brings those claims as assault and car accident files, with no fee unless the claim resolves. The guide’s opening chapter sets out how the series is arranged.