11-05-2006, 10:52 PM
|
 | Administrative Editor PTSD | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 7,205
| |
 The Role of PTSD in Litigation!
An interesting piece outlining how PTSD is now playing a formissable role within the world courts as a documented "excuse" for some actions. Quote:
The use of the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder in litigation has been called "a forensic minefield" (Sparr and Boehnlein, 1990). Since its inclusion in the DSM-III, PTSD has been increasingly utilized over the past decades in both civil and criminal litigation (Slovenko, 1994; Sparr and Boehnlein 1990)--so much so that the provision of PTSD testimony into the legal system has been characterized as "a cottage industry" (Stone, 1993).
Attorneys introduce PTSD arguments into legal cases through the use of expert testimony. A diagnosis of PTSD can provide advantages in litigation. In civil litigation, it creates an assumption of obvious causation. It also carries a legal and moral implication that someone else is responsible for an event so overwhelming that anyone could have developed PTSD as a result. Finally, it provides strong support for arguments regarding damages (Gold, 2003; Gold and Simon, 2001). The stressors alleged to cause PTSD and the class of victims who could suffer PTSD from those stressors have expanded the horizons of tort litigation (Shuman, 2003). Posttraumatic stress disorder is also increasingly used in criminal cases, typically in arguments of justification or mitigation in sentencing. In these circumstances, attorneys argue that anyone exposed to the trauma the defendant suffered might find themselves committing similar crimes under similar circumstances.
Common misconceptions about the nature of trauma and PTSDs are partially responsible for the increased frequency of a PTSD diagnosis in litigation. The terms trauma and stress are routinely used synonymously. All traumatic experiences are stressful. However, not all stress is traumatic. Lawyers, laypeople and clinicians all frequently confuse the popular concept of stress as a synonym for trauma with the medical concept of a specific psychiatric disorder that may occur following exposure to a true traumatic event.
Continue to read the full document on PTSD in Litigation.
|  |
PTSD Forum recommends the use of Firefox Browser with Search Status add-on, plus your countries relevant English dictionary add-on. This enables forum members to spell check and remove typical toolbars from their browser.
Gender 
Linear Mode
