The psychological impact of a dog attack often exceeds the physical injuries. Victims may develop lasting emotional conditions that affect their daily lives, relationships, and ability to function. Psychological injuries from dog attacks are compensable, and understanding how to document and prove these damages can significantly increase your recovery.
Common Psychological Injuries
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common after violent dog attacks. Symptoms include flashbacks and intrusive memories of the attack, nightmares and sleep disturbances, hypervigilance and heightened startle response, avoidance of dogs, places, or situations reminiscent of the attack, and emotional numbness or detachment.
Cynophobia (fear of dogs) may develop even in people who previously loved dogs. This phobia can severely limit daily activities in a world where dogs are everywhere—public spaces, friends' homes, and neighborhoods all become sources of anxiety.
Anxiety disorders may manifest as generalized anxiety, panic attacks, or social anxiety. Victims may become afraid to leave home, walk in their neighborhoods, or visit places where dogs might be present.
Depression often follows traumatic attacks, particularly when physical injuries cause lasting disfigurement or disability. Changes in appearance and lifestyle can trigger severe depression requiring long-term treatment.
Psychological Impact on Children
Children are particularly vulnerable to lasting psychological harm. Young victims may experience regression to earlier developmental stages, separation anxiety and fear of being alone, sleep disturbances and nightmares, behavioral changes and aggression, academic difficulties, and social withdrawal.
Psychological trauma during childhood can affect development and have lasting impacts well into adulthood. Early intervention with qualified child psychologists is crucial.
Proving Psychological Injuries
Document emotional injuries as carefully as physical ones:
Seek professional treatment: See a psychologist or psychiatrist who can diagnose your condition and provide treatment. Medical professionals can document symptoms, progress, and prognosis.
Keep a symptom journal: Record daily symptoms including nightmares, panic attacks, avoidance behaviors, and how the trauma affects your routine.
Document lifestyle changes: Note activities you can no longer do, places you avoid, and relationships affected by your condition.
Gather witness statements: Family, friends, and coworkers can describe changes in your behavior and functioning since the attack.
Expert Testimony
Mental health experts strengthen psychological injury claims. Psychologists and psychiatrists can diagnose specific conditions, explain how the attack caused or exacerbated psychological symptoms, describe the treatment needed and expected duration, provide opinions on long-term prognosis, and testify about how the condition affects daily functioning.
Expert testimony helps juries understand invisible injuries and justifies appropriate compensation for conditions that may last a lifetime.
Compensation for Emotional Damages
Psychological injuries warrant compensation for:
Treatment costs: Therapy sessions, psychiatric care, medications, and hospitalization if needed.
Future treatment: Many psychological conditions require ongoing care. Estimates for lifetime treatment costs should be included in your claim.
Pain and suffering: The emotional anguish of living with PTSD, phobias, or depression.
Loss of enjoyment of life: Activities and pleasures you can no longer enjoy because of psychological injuries.
Lost wages: Time missed from work for treatment, and reduced earning capacity if psychological conditions affect job performance.
Challenges in Psychological Injury Cases
Insurance companies often dispute psychological injuries because they're invisible and harder to prove than physical wounds. Insurers may argue you had pre-existing conditions, that symptoms are exaggerated, or that psychological injuries don't warrant significant compensation.
Counter these tactics with thorough documentation, credible expert testimony, and evidence of how dramatically your life changed after the attack. Photos and testimony showing your active, happy life before the incident contrast powerfully with evidence of your current limitations.
Pre-Existing Conditions
Having pre-existing anxiety or depression doesn't bar your claim. Under the "eggshell plaintiff" doctrine, defendants take victims as they find them. If the attack worsened a pre-existing condition, you can recover for that aggravation. Honest disclosure of your mental health history actually strengthens your credibility while still allowing recovery for trauma the attack caused.
Getting Help
Prioritize your mental health recovery. Seek treatment promptly—both because it helps you heal and because it documents your injuries. An experienced dog bite attorney can help present psychological injury claims effectively, work with mental health experts, and counter insurance company tactics that minimize emotional damages.