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ACCIDENT LITIGANTS WITH NEUROTIC SYMPTOMS
Author(s) -
Parker Neville
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1977.tb99164.x
Subject(s) - causation , accident (philosophy) , neurosis , neuroticism , etiology , compensation (psychology) , psychology , psychiatry , neurotic disorders , variety (cybernetics) , medicine , psychoanalysis , philosophy , epistemology , personality , computer science , artificial intelligence
Experience gained from an examination of 750 consecutive accident litigants leads to the conclusion that the aetiology of neurotic symptoms after accidents is so complex that diagnostic labels implying single causation give a false and oversimplified picture. Terms such as “compensation neurosis”, “traumatic neurosis”, “Mediterranean back”, “postconcussion syndrome” and many others illustrate preconceived ideas of causation which are in most cases not warranted, and it is recommended that this group of patients be considered under the general label of sufferers from “accident neurosis”. The many symptoms which occur are discussed, and it is found that they present in such endless variety, and in varying severity from mild to completely disabling; they do not cluster in any consistent way to justify the delineating of discrete syndromes which are artificial and misleading; their existence confuses rather than clarifies our understanding of these unfortunate people.