Journal of Programming Languages | 2021
Supporting Evidence from the DSM and ICD Classifications to Better Understand Traumatic Experiences, PTSD in Law
Abstract
This paper will discuss the recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in legal cases based on the historical development of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). Further the discussion will draw on the diagnostic relationship between the DSM and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). It is important to understand how the courts received evidence in relation to a person’s traumatic experience and to define the limits of liability for psychiatric illness cases. In tort law, the courts had been cautious to permit recovery to underserving litigants. Interpreting traumatic experiences from psychiatry to law, at times, do not succeed in a claim for compensation.1 Belanger-Hardy opined ‘Tort Law has always viewed mental harm with caution, not to say scepticism’.2 Historically, compensation for PTSD claims have always been awarded on ad hoc basis in tort law for fear of opening the floodgates.3 In Saadati v Moorhead4 , Brown J acknowledged the requirement of a psychiatrist to diagnose a psychiatric disorder by referring to DSM and ICD classifications.5 The diagnostic manual is a guide book and should be used with caution.6 The DSM Manual also explains the concept of malingering and practitioners should be cautious when preparing an expert report to assist the court.