ABSTRACT
Over recent years psychologists have increasingly played a variety of roles in forensic matters. One of the most common of these, reflecting a rise in lawsuits in general, is in personal injury cases. The participation of psychology in part reflects maturation of the field. Psychological knowledge has expanded and psychological procedures have become more reliable and accepted in the scientific community. Psychology is particularly well suited for addressing issues of interest to the courts due to its humanistic orientation and its rigorous empirical data. Nevertheless, training in psychology is usually oriented towards nonforensic clinical practice and, as this chapter demonstrates, there are significant distinctions between clinical and forensic practices. This is particularly true in the area of personal injury lawsuits.
