The Intersection of Law and Mental Health: Leveraging Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Psychology in PTSD and TBI Litigation

This session explores how brain damage can alter behavior and moral reasoning, examining landmark cases like Phineas Gage and modern research on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Attendees will learn why ‘phrenological thinking’ leads to errors and how to properly integrate neuroimaging with neuropsychological testing and forensic analysis to reach reliable legal conclusions.

This session covers the DSM-5 criteria for PTSD, its four symptom clusters, and the distinction between trauma and stress in legal contexts. Participants will review evidence-based treatments like prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, understand expected outcomes, and learn how PTSD considerations apply to civil damages and criminal defense strategies.

A brief intermission allowing attendees to refresh before the final session. Use this time to reflect on the neuroscience and PTSD material covered in the first two sessions.

This session examines how psychological testing provides objective, quantitative data about emotional and cognitive functioning in forensic contexts. Attendees will learn about validity testing to detect feigning or exaggeration, appropriate normative comparisons, and how to integrate test results with clinical examination to support or refute claims in litigation.