PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - S Sreenivasan
AU  - S Eth
AU  - P Kirkish
AU  - T Garrick
TI  - A practical method for the evaluation of symptom exaggeration in minor head trauma among civil litigants
DP  - 2003 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 220--231
VI  - 31
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/31/2/220.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/31/2/220.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2003 Jun 01; 31
AB  - 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.