Citation

Sreenivasan S, Eth S, Kirkish P, Garrick T. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2003; 31(2): 220-231.

Affiliation

Forensic Outreach Services, GLA-Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 11301 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA. Shoba.Sreenivasan@med.va.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12875501

Abstract

Forensic psychiatrists and psychologists are often called on to provide opinions and render testimony in which minor head trauma accompanied by persistent somatic, cognitive, and/or emotional symptoms is alleged. The frequency of persistent symptoms following such minor head injury is generally low. The forensic clinician therefore must differentiate between subtle brain dysfunction, symptom amplification, psychogenic-based causes for the presence of cognitive and other deficits, or frank malingering. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to review critical issues related to the assessment of malingering and symptom exaggeration in mild head injury cases; and second, to offer a practical model for the assessment of amplified neuropsychological and psychiatric deficits in civil litigants in cases of minor head trauma.

Language: en