Litigation stress

Litigation stress refers to negative mental health consequences (psychological stress) associated with judicial proceedings.{{Cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Nancy J. |last2=Wroblewski |first2=Mary |last3=Columnists |first3=Guest Law |date=1989 |title=Litigation Stress in Nurses |url=https://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Citation/1989/10000/Litigation_Stress_in_Nurses.5.aspx |journal=Nursing Management |language=en-US |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=23–25 |doi=10.1097/00006247-198910000-00005 |pmid=2586931 |issn=0744-6314|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Gutheil |first1=Thomas G. |last2=Bursztajn |first2=Harold |last3=Brodsky |first3=Archie |last4=Strasburger |first4=Larry H. |date=2000 |title=Preventing "Critogenic" Harms: Minimizing Emotional Injury from Civil Litigation |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/009318530002800102 |journal=The Journal of Psychiatry & Law |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.1177/009318530002800102 |s2cid=74526614 |issn=0093-1853|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Strasburger |first=L. H. |date=1999 |title=The litigant-patient: mental health consequences of civil litigation |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10400429/ |journal=The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=203–211 |issn=1093-6793 |pmid=10400429}}{{Citation |title=The Litigation Stress Syndrome |date=2008 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73064-6_12 |work=Avoiding Medical Malpractice |pages=79–81 |access-date=2023-03-21 |place=New York, NY |publisher=Springer New York |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-73064-6_12 |isbn=978-0-387-73063-9 |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Ryll |first=Nancy A. |date=2015-03-01 |title=Living Through Litigation: Malpractice Stress Syndrome |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1546084314001886 |journal=Journal of Radiology Nursing |series=Legal Topics for Radiology Nurses |language=en |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=35–38 |doi=10.1016/j.jradnu.2014.11.007 |issn=1546-0843|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Keet |first1=Michaela |last2=Heavin |first2=Heather |last3=Sparrow |first3=Shawna |title=Anticipating and Managing the Psychological Cost of Civil Litigation |date=2017 |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/wyaj/2017-v34-n2-wyaj04383/1057058ar/ |journal= Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice|language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=73–98 |doi=10.22329/wyaj.v34i2.5023 |issn=2561-5017|doi-access=free }}{{Citation |last1=Metzner |first1=Jeffrey L. |title=The Stress of Being Sued |date=2022 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91975-7_11 |work=Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry |pages=79–84 |editor-last=Ash |editor-first=Peter |access-date=2023-03-21 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-91975-7_11 |isbn=978-3-030-91975-7 |last2=Gendel |first2=Michael H. |editor2-last=Frierson |editor2-first=Richard L. |editor3-last=Friedman |editor3-first=Susan Hatters|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite SSRN |last1=Keet |first1=Michaela |last2=Heavin |first2=Heather D. |last3=Lande |first3=John |date=2020-01-20 |title=Litigation Interest and Risk Assessment: Help Your Clients Make Good Litigation Decisions |ssrn=3522678 }}

Some related issues caused by litigation stress include privacy concerns, adversarialization and psychological trauma.

Parties particularly vulnerable to litigation stress include those with existing health issues, parties alleging sexual assault or harassment, parties in cases involving family conflict and parties in cases involving medical malpractice. In the latter context, this topic is sometimes known as the medical malpractice stress syndrome (MMSS).