TY - JOUR T1 - A practical method for the evaluation of symptom exaggeration in minor head trauma among civil litigants JF - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online JO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law SP - 220 LP - 231 VL - 31 IS - 2 AU - S Sreenivasan AU - S Eth AU - P Kirkish AU - T Garrick Y1 - 2003/06/01 UR - http://jaapl.org/content/31/2/220.abstract N2 - 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. ER -