Dr.-Gerald-Young-HD-Pic-e1447188297562-300x296Researcher: Dr. Gerald Young, Department of Psychology, Glendon, York University.

Research Questions: (1) How can tribunals make better decisions on psychological injury cases? (2) Can we help lawyers and psychologists to work together in an adversarial context?

Methodology: The approach integrates biological, psychological and social components. Review of empirical multidisciplinary literature. Clinical testing of new questionnaires and instruments. Interdisciplinary brokering.

Results and Conclusions: Contribution to the development of evidence-based psychological expertise in courts.

Dissemination of Results: Dr. Young has published 17 peer reviewed articles, editorials and notes, and co-authored and co-edited, as first author, two seminal books in the field. He is the founder and first president of the Association for Scientific Advancement in Psychological Injury and Law (ASAPIL) and the editor-in-chief of its new peer reviewed journal, Psychological Injury and the Law. A first international research conference was held in Toronto in August 2009 on ‘Trauma, Psychological Injury, Law: Controversies and Advances’. This meeting also included a full-day workshop on ‘Trauma and Psychological Injury: Practice, Clinical, Legal, and Ethical Issues’. The former was approved by the federal granting agency SSHRC adn the latter has been accepted by the Continuing Education Workshop Committee of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Impact on the Discipline: A new multidisciplinary field of research has been created that integrates seven streams: (1) law, (2) forensic psychology, (3) disability and work, (4) posttraumatic stress disorder, (5) chronic pain, (6) traumatic brain injury, (7) psychological assessments and malingering. Dr. Young has been awarded the Principal’s Award for Outstanding Research Contribution (2008-2009) in recognition of that work.

Impact on Society and Potential Users: These scientific advances are helping psychologists and the judicial system to adjudicate psychological injury cases in a fair fashion. They are aimed at reducing the adversarial nature of expert witness testimonies in tort process. Practitioners are educating other psychologists, lawyers, judges and judicial reporters on science-based assessments and therapies.

Other Involved Parties: active Springer Science + Business Media, the American Psychological Association (APA).

Keywords: psychological injuries, tort law, expert witness, forensic psychology, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, malingering, psychological assessment, disability, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)