The three claim types — and why the labels matter
| Type | What it means | How states treat it |
|---|---|---|
| Physical-mental | A physical injury causes psychological harm — depression with chronic pain, anxiety after an amputation, distress over disfigurement. | Compensable almost everywhere. If you have a physical claim, its psychological consequences generally belong in it. This is the most common and most under-claimed type. |
| Mental-physical | Psychological stress causes physical harm — the classic example is stress-triggered cardiac events. | Recognized in many states, with causation fights. Medically driven. |
| Mental-mental | Psychological injury with no physical injury — PTSD from a robbery, from witnessing a death, from a violent incident. | The battleground. Some states cover it (often requiring an extraordinary or sudden event), some sharply limit it, a few essentially exclude it. Several states have expanded coverage for first responders' PTSD specifically. |
The one rule that travels:
If you already have a physical injury claim, psychological consequences usually can be added to it — and routinely aren't, because nobody says the symptoms out loud. If your claim is purely psychological, the state you're in matters more than for any other injury on this site. California, for instance, generally requires six months of employment and work being the predominant cause; other states draw entirely different lines. This is a page where "check your state" is the load-bearing sentence.
What compensable psychological injury looks like
- PTSD after robberies, assaults, machinery fatalities, serious accidents witnessed — intrusive memories, hypervigilance, avoidance of the workplace or tasks, sleep disruption.
- Depression and anxiety with physical injuries — the most common pattern in comp: pain, lost identity, financial fear, and isolation compounding a body injury.
- What generally isn't covered: ordinary job stress, personnel actions (discipline, termination, workload) — most states exclude claims arising from lawful personnel decisions. Honest framing prevents wasted fights: the claim is about the event or injury, not about having a hard job.
How these claims are documented and won
If you're struggling right now
Beyond the claim: if you're in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 (the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) — free, 24/7, in English and Spanish. The claim can wait an hour; you matter more than it does.
Frequently asked questions
The opposite: psychological symptoms documented early and treated consistently read as exactly what they are — a normal human response to injury and trauma. What hurts credibility is a psych claim that first appears at settlement time. Say it early, treat it steadily.
Half-true, and the half matters. Ordinary job stress generally isn't covered. PTSD from a robbery, psychological injury from a traumatic event, and depression flowing from a physical injury are entirely different claims — covered in most states. Don't let the word "stress" flatten distinctions the law respects.
When you claim a psychological injury, records relevant to that claim generally become discoverable — with limits that vary by state, and protections a lawyer can enforce (scope, time range, unrelated history). It's a fair question to ask in a free consultation before filing a pure psych claim; it's rarely a reason to suffer unclaimed.