A crash can stay with you after it’s over.
Some people come to MVA therapy because they can’t stop replaying it.
Others come because driving, or even riding in a car, now feels terrifying.
Some aren’t sure they need it, but come because a doctor, lawyer or insurer suggested it.
Maybe you feel:
- guilty
- jumpy
- numb
- shaken
Your body learned the road can be dangerous, and it’s trying to protect you.
MVA therapy can help your body and mind recover from what happened.
What is MVA Therapy?
MVA therapy helps you recover from the impact of a motor vehicle accident (MVA).
It starts from the idea that the size of the accident doesn’t decide the size of your response.
Fear and avoidance are normal responses to danger.
MVA therapy looks at physical and emotional injuries, pain, losses and changes a crash brings.
It can help drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians, witnesses and people who caused an accident.
Online sessions can help when getting to appointments means a drive you’re not ready for.
How MVA Therapy Helps
Therapy gives you a place to make sense of what happened.
It can help whether the crash was recent or many years ago.
In MVA therapy you can learn to:
- calm your body in a car
- ease flashbacks and nightmares
- get back to driving step by step
- manage pain and stress together
- work through guilt or anger
Therapy can’t undo what happened, but it can help it feel more like a memory than something still happening.
Recovery takes time as you learn to feel safe again.
You can move through your days with less fear.
What is an MVA Therapist?
An MVA therapist is a registered therapist who helps people recover after a car accident.
Many therapists have training in trauma, since a crash is a very common traumatic experience.
Many also know how auto insurance claims work.
Some write reports for insurers or lawyers, and some prefer to focus only on treatment.
Some work alongside other health professionals, since emotional and physical recovery often go together.
Some help with brain injuries and concussion, which can affect mood and memory.
What matters most is that the therapist is a good fit for you, whatever approach they use.
Some Approaches for MVA Therapy
EMDR
It helps you reprocess the crash so the memory feels less vivid and frightening.
Mindfulness
It helps you notice fear in the moment without being swept up by it.
Online
It lets you do therapy from home, before you’re ready to drive to appointments.
Somatic
It helps your body release the bracing and startle that can linger after an accident.
What to Expect in MVA Therapy
MVA therapy often starts with how you’re doing now.
Your therapist might ask about sleep, pain, driving and how daily life has changed.
Early sessions often explore what feels hardest since the accident, what helps, and what you avoid.
You can share as much or as little about the crash as feels manageable.
Some therapists suggest small steps between sessions, like sitting in a parked car or riding for a short distance.
If past treatment focused only on your physical injuries, it’s worth sharing what still feels hard.
MVA therapy can be short-term for fear after a recent accident, or longer when there are injuries, losses or past trauma.
Crash survivors have long been doubted.
On June 9, 1865, a train carrying novelist Charles Dickens derailed on a bridge in Staplehurst, England.
He climbed out unhurt and helped the injured and dying. Afterward, he could barely ride a train without shaking. He died five years later, on the anniversary of the crash.
In 1866, London surgeon John Erichsen described people injured in train crashes who had no visible wounds. They had pain, poor sleep, fear and trouble concentrating. He called it railway spine.
As injured passengers sued for compensation, railway companies and their doctors often called them fakers.
Continue reading
In 1961, British neurologist Henry Miller gave a series of lectures on what he called accident neurosis. He claimed most symptoms after accidents disappeared once insurance claims were settled. Later researchers found his methods were flawed. Many people still had symptoms long after their claims ended, but the suspicion stuck.
In 1980, psychiatry’s diagnostic manual recognized post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Its early definitions said trauma had to be outside usual human experience, which left everyday crashes open to doubt. Later research found car accidents are one of the most common causes of PTSD.
In 2000, a study of Saskatchewan’s no-fault insurance found whiplash claims dropped after people could no longer sue for pain and suffering. Some saw proof that people exaggerated. Others argued the pain hadn’t gone away, only the claims.
On April 6, 2018, a truck collided with the Humboldt Broncos team bus in Saskatchewan. Sixteen people died and thirteen were injured. Communities across the prairies grieved together, and the trauma reached far beyond the people on the bus.
But people affected by a crash are still asked to prove their pain is real.
People are often seen through their insurance claims and asked to prove their symptoms while they’re still in shock.
Injuries that don’t show on scans, like emotional trauma, can be doubted.
Car accidents can stir up older trauma that makes recovery harder, and insurers may blame symptoms on what came before.
And people who caused a crash may carry guilt they feel they can’t talk about.
Trauma-sensitive MVA therapy works inside those gaps. It believes your fear and pain are real. It works with your body and mind, not only the memory. It makes room for older trauma and all the feelings an accident can leave behind. And it lets you return to the road at a pace that feels safe.
Trauma-sensitive therapy starts by believing you and your experience.
Trauma-Sensitive MVA Therapy
What if your body is still bracing?
After trauma, your body can stay ready for danger, from the accident, from what came before it, or from both.
Trauma-sensitive therapists understand that fear is your body trying to keep you safe.
5 phrases you might hear in Trauma-Sensitive MVA Therapy:
- You don’t have to tell me everything.
- Your body did its best to protect you.
- What are your legs doing right now?
- You survived, and you’re here now.
- Does this remind you of anything?
Trauma-sensitive MVA therapy invites your body to rest.
Principles of Trauma-Sensitive MVA Therapy
You are believed
Your pain and fear are real, and they can affect you physically, mentally, emotionally and socially.
At your pace
Therapy and reaching your goals can happen in small steps. You decide what feels possible and when.
Settle first
A crash affects your mind and body. Finding safety and settling can come before talking about it.
Old and new
An accident can make old trauma worse and cause new trauma, even when others don’t see it.
Questions You Can Ask an MVA Therapist
A consultation is a good time to ask questions. Trust how you feel after the conversation as much as the answers themselves.
Can you bill my auto insurer directly?
Do I have to describe the accident?
How do you help with driving fear?
Can we work on pain and stress together?
What if the crash brought up old trauma?
Do you work with other providers?
Related Topics in This Library
Concerns
Where would you like to go next?
Free mental health education for trauma-sensitive care in every room and relationship.
Mailing Address:
11500 29 St SE #105
Calgary, AB T2Z 3W9
