PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shoba Sreenivasan
AU  - Thomas Garrick
AU  - James McGuire
AU  - Daniel E. Smee
AU  - Daniel Dow
AU  - Daniel Woehl
TI  - Critical Concerns in Iraq/Afghanistan War Veteran-Forensic Interface: Combat-Related Postdeployment Criminal Violence
DP  - 2013 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 263--273
VI  - 41
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/263.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/41/2/263.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2013 Jun 01; 41
AB  - Identifying whether there is a nexus between Iraq and Afghanistan combat injuries and civilian violence on return from deployment is complicated by differences in reactions of individuals to combat exposure, the overlapping effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the low base rate of civilian violence after combat exposure. Moreover, the overall prevalence of violence among returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat war veterans has not been well documented. Malingered symptoms and either exaggeration or outright fabrication of war zone exposure are challenges to rendering forensic opinions, with the risk reduced by accessing military documents that corroborate war zone duties and exposure. This article serves as a first step toward understanding what may potentiate violence among returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. We offer a systematic approach toward the purpose of forensic case formulation that addresses whether combat duty/war zone exposure and associated clinical conditions are linked to criminal violence on return to civilian life.