RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
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
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 220
OP 231
VO 31
IS 2
A1 S Sreenivasan
A1 S Eth
A1 P Kirkish
A1 T Garrick
YR 2003
UL http://jaapl.org/content/31/2/220.abstract
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.