Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Litigation

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in
September 2001 turned PTSD into a household word. But posttraumatic stress
disorder has been documented throughout history: For example, as long ago as
1666, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary that he still had night terrors 6
months after the great fire of London. PTSD, officially recognized as a
diagnosis by DSM-III in 1980, is only the most recent term used to describe
the suffering of trauma victims.

Few could have foreseen its profound
impact on litigation. Often dubbed the "black hole" of litigation-where
allegations are relatively easy to assert but difficult to defend because
the symptoms are subjective-PTSD has deeply influenced civil and criminal
law in cases ranging from malpractice and personal injury to sexual
harassment and child abuse. It is thus vital for all legal parties involved
that forensic examiners perform credible psychiatric and psychological
examinations of PTSD claimants.

Intended to add direction and
discipline to the forensic assessment of PTSD litigants, this expanded
second edition begins with an updated chapter on current and future trends
for the role of PTSD in litigation.


* Chapter 2 notes the increasing evidence that exposure to multiple
events not only is more common than previously thought but also increases
the risk for development of PTSD following the target event.
* Chapter 3
details diagnostic criteria and guidelines for the forensic psychiatric
examination of the PTSD claimant.
* Most literature discusses PTSD in
adults. Chapter 4 offers a rare perspective on PTSD in children and
adolescents, including parental response to the trauma, developmental
effects, and delayed onset symptoms.
* Forensic assessment of PTSD
claimants is presented in Chapter 5, followed by new chapters on disability
determinants (how PTSD impairs occupational functioning) and PTSD in the
workplace, where the causal relationship between employment stress and a
resulting mental or emotional disorder must be determined.
* Chapter 8
covers guidelines for malingering in PTSD, where the claimant may be
motivated by financial gain or by a reduced charge resulting from an
insanity defense.
* A new chapter on forensic laboratory testing in PTSD
presents the tantalizing potential of psychophysiologic measurement to
redeem the PTSD diagnosis from its daunting subjectivity.

This
essential collection by 13 U.S. experts sheds important new light on
forensic guidelines for effective assessment and diagnosis and determination
of disability, serving both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation
involving PTSD claims. Mental health and legal professionals, third-party
payers, and interested laypersons will welcome this balanced approach to a
complex and difficult field.