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OVERVIEW
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 2nd 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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword.
Preface.
Introduction.
Persistent reexperiences in psychiatry and law: current and
future trends for the role of PTSD in litigation.
Recent research findings on the diagnosis of PTSD:
- prevalence,
- course,
- comorbidity, and
- risk.
Forensic psychiatric assessment of PTSD claimants.
PTSD in children and adolescents: an overview with guidelines
for forensic assessment.
Forensic psychological assessment in PTSD.
Disability determination in PTSD litigation.
PTSD in employment litigation.
Guidelines for evaluation of malingering in PTSD.
Forensic laboratory testing for PTSD.
Index.
REVIEWS
“With some new chapters and added contributors
this essential forensic work has risen to an even higher level of usefulness
than its predecessor edition. It admirably achieves its goal of promoting sound,
scientific and professional standards for this often-controversial area of litigation.
This edition belongs on every forensic shelf.”
—Thomas G. Gutheil, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School;
Co-director, Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Massachusetts Mental Health
Center
“If one can improve on a classic, Dr. Simon has
done so in the second edition of his Posttraumatic Stress Disorders in Litigation.
His initial publication in 1995 served as a major aid for forensic psychiatrists
and psychologists. His second edition expands on the problems faced by the forensic
assessor by including children, employment situations, disability determinations,
and the laboratory corroboration for the diagnosis. PTSD is such a complex and
often confusing diagnosis that the establishment of guidelines set by Dr. Simon
and elaborated by his colleagues is a most welcome and helpful publication for
those of us who conduct forensic psychiatric assessments in civil and criminal
litigation.”
—Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Center
for Studies in Social-Legal Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“This book is a welcome update to the first
edition and provides readers with a thorough, well balanced, and comprehensive
view of forensic assessment of individuals claiming psychiatric difficulty secondary
to PTSD. The authors are well known and experienced in their respective fields,
and are able to relate important and complicated issues in a relevant, easy
to understand manner. This work also provides readers with essential guidelines
and encourages a scientific approach for the assessment of these complex legal
cases. In their attempt to raise the bar for forensic practitioners, the authors
provide an invaluable resource for mental health and legal professionals involved
in PTSD evaluation and litigation. An extensive list of references at the end
of each chapter also provides the reader with links to further relevant information
for those interested in exploring the topic in more depth.”
—Steven T. Herron, M.D., Doody's Health Science Review, May 2003
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert I. Simon, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of
the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Georgetown University School of Medicine
in Washington, D.C.
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