REVIEW   

Minerva Medicolegale 2019 December;139(1-4):10-4

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4849.20.01789-7

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Adjustment disorders: medico-legal implications in the assessment of biological damage

Raffaella RINALDI ¹, Francesco S. BERSANI ² ✉, Andrea CIOFFI ¹, Giuseppe BERSANI ³

¹ Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; ² Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; ³ Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Adjustment disorders (ADs) are characterized by the development of emotional and behavioral symptoms in response to stressful events. Unclear diagnostic boundaries and reduced availability of suitable tools for the detection and severity determination of ADs contribute to make such disturbances under-studied. In view of the importance of the proper characterization of ADs for the medico-legal context (e.g. working interpersonal problems, professional liability, psychological injuries, work or road accidents), in the present manuscript we tentatively aggregate clinical and medico-legal considerations to suggest comprehensive evaluation approaches which can support the assessment and measurement of the severity of the biological damage associated with such conditions.

KEY WORDS: Adjustment disorders; Psychological stress; Forensic medicine