Following a road traffic accident, psychological injuries can be as significant and debilitating as physical ones, yet they’re often more complex to evidence and quantify. While many legal professionals may consider various types of psychological experts, Clinical Psychologists offer a uniquely structured and comprehensive approach through their Clinical Formulation framework.
This methodology provides solicitors with robust, defensible evidence that can significantly strengthen compensation claims and improve outcomes for clients suffering psychological symptoms following RTAs.
Comprehensive Assessment Beyond Symptom Lists
Clinical Psychologists provide a Clinical Formulation – a structured framework that goes far beyond simply cataloguing symptoms. This holistic approach explores the client’s psychological difficulties through biological, psychological, and social perspectives, giving courts a complete picture of a client’s symptoms and challenges following a personal injury.
Robust Causation Evidence
The formulation process specifically examines:
- Precipitating Factors: Direct evidence linking a personal injury and the onset of a client’s psychological symptoms.
- Predisposing Factors: Pre-accident biological, psychological or social vulnerabilities that may have made the client more susceptible to developing psychological symptoms following a personal injury.
- Perpetuating Factors: Factors that are serving to maintain a client’s psychological distress.
- Protective Factors: Positive things in a person’s life that help them cope and “buffer” against the difficulties they face.
This structured approach strengthens your causation arguments and helps the courts understand an individual’s personal psychological response to stressful life events such as a personal injury.
Quantifiable Impact Assessment
Clinical Psychologists systematically assess how symptoms affect daily functioning across:
- Home and family life
- Occupational function and comfort
- Educational performance
- Social, recreational and exercise activities
- Sleep patterns
This provides evidence for loss or restrictions in these areas of function and any impact on quality of life.
Defensible Expert Opinion
The formulation integrates structured clinical interviews and evidence-based psychological theories. This multi-method approach creates robust, defensible expert opinions that withstand cross-examination.
Treatment Planning
Where required Clinical Psychologists can provide individualised treatment recommendations based on their comprehensive assessments, enabling:
- Evidence-based treatment planning that demonstrates the necessity and duration of psychological interventions
- Clear prognosis that offers opinion on a client’s expected trajectory of recovery
This strengthens your claim for losses by providing detailed, defensible treatment needs based on a client’s specific psychological symptoms.
Contextual Understanding
Clinical Psychologists recognise the importance of understanding “the person behind the symptoms”. This helps courts appreciate the biological, psychological and social impact of injuries on clients psychological wellbeing and function, providing compelling narrative for psychological injury claims.
