171: Psychological Injuries, Law, and Practice Issues

This intermediate workshop imparts state-of-the-art techniques for practicing in the constantly evolving arena of psychological injury and law. Some conditions are controversial in civil forensic practice. Predictably, disability determination, and malingering play a substantial role. Psychologists’ contributions are a critical factor in enabling the courts to understand these issues, apportion fault where appropriate, and identify just levels of compensation if warranted. Participants will learn the most relevant legal and forensic assessment considerations for conducting evaluations in an evidence-based, effective, and ethical manner.

1. Describe the personal injury litigation process and how familiarity with the law enables relevant, defensible, and admissible forensic psychological reports and testimony;
2. Apply the latest evidence-based procedures for identifying and explaining post-traumatic stress disorder when evaluating emotional damages;
3. Utilize the most up-to-date methods for assessing malingering and for classifying different sources of response bias in a forensically appropriate fashion; and
4. Summarize the impact of psychological impairment on work capacity in personal injury cases, employing the best practices emphasized by each of the presentations featured in this workshop.

Eric Y. Drogin, PhD, JD, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Lisa D. Piechowski, PhD, Argosy University-Washington, DC, Arlington, VA; Izabela Z. Schultz, PhD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Gerald Young, PhD, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada