Is depression covered under workers’ compensation?

Every state handles workers’ compensation a little differently, but most of us can understand the basic nature of this type of compensation. If you get injured while on the job, workers’ compensation may cover your medical expenses and help cover your salary while you are recuperating. We hear about these types of scenarios often in relation to jobs in construction or warehouse work. But something you might not consider is that workers may be able to get workers’ compensation for mental injuries.

As you can imagine, a mental injury may be hard to prove. Not only that, it may be even harder to prove that your mental injury, such as depression or anxiety, was caused or aggravated by your job.

While a long time ago people who were depressed were brushed off as “feeling blue,” there is now significant modern medicine that supports the ideas of real mental conditions. A job or a certain event at a job could cause someone to suffer from depression. A good example of this is the police officer who was videotaped pepper spraying protesters. The video went viral and the aftermath of this video caused him to suffer from anxiety and depression.

Depression can also be the result of an actual physical injury. For example, a worker may suffer a spinal injury at work which temporarily or permanently lands him in a wheelchair. He may then begin suffering with depression as a result of this injury. That depression may continue on long after the actual physical injury.

Every state handles causation differently, whether medical or legal, so it’s important to speak with a workers’ compensation attorney about your rights if you believe you are struggling with depression brought on by a workplace event.