Preventing “Critogenic” Harms: Minimizing Emotional Injury from Civil Litigation

Litigation is always stressful for the parties involved, and certain emotional injuries from litigation itself, termed “critogenic” (law-caused) harms, can be identified to aid attorneys in recognizing them. These harms include delay, adversarialization, retraumatization, violation of boundaries, loss of privacy, and arrested healing. After discussing critogenic benefits of litigation for balance, the authors offer approaches for minimizing the impacts of the above harms on clients.