Civil Claimant Embitterment: Five Case Studies Exploring Clinical Presentation and Management

Abstract

Trauma victims/litigants frequently feel irritable, angry and a sense of injustice alongside feelings of stress, low mood and anxiety. This can be equally distressing and destructive to being actively and positively involved in a civil compensation case. Five case study illustrations are given, culminating in essential skills for the lawyer and clinician to display irrespective of whether the angry, embittered reaction is mild or severe.

Current developments on the interface of psychology and law in civil justice: reconciling law, science and policy.

“…• Legal cases and precedents [5,6] • Medico-legal case studies [7] • Credibility assessment [8,9] • Clinical/diagnostic issues [10] • Claimant Embitterment [11] • Organisational Culture [12,13] These processes affect all parts of the civil justice system at a macro and micro level, alike, as illustrated in Figure 1.…”