CHANGES IN THE LEGAL AND PSYCHIATRIC CONCEPTS OF OBJECTIVE CAUSE.

As it can be observed in court rulings and psychiatric diagnostic criteria, the characteristics of the medico-legal concept of objective cause are undergoing evolutions in the psychiatric as well as in the legal areas. In this paper, we will analyze and discuss those evolutions, using two types of materials: (a) A recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling related to an appeal of an army officer who claimed to have developed a psychiatric disorder due to his military service. (B) The changes in the diagnostic criteria of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the DSM-III through the DSM-IV till the recently published DSM-V. Awareness and understanding of those evolutions are helpful for psychiatrists in the process of preparing professional reports and/or acting as expert witnesses in Courts.