Dr. Elhai occasionally serves as an expert witness in criminal and civil legal cases. He has been hired on dozens of cases, and has testified in state and federal court numerous times. He is licensed to practice psychology in Ohio, and holds an Interjurisdictional Temporary Authorization to Practice (PSYPACT) in most other U.S. states. 

Given Dr. Elhai's extensive clinical experience and research publication record on psychological trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he consults in cases where a diagnosis of PTSD is being contested. Of particular note, he has experience (and research publications) in evaluating genuine vs. malingered PTSD. (See below)

Dr. Elhai has consulted for the Minnehaha County State Attorney (South Dakota); Minnehaha County Public Defender (South Dakota); Dade County State Attorney (Florida); Broward County State Attorney (Florida); Broward County Public Defender (Florida); Gunster Law Firm (Florida); Alston & Bird (Georgia); Cutler Law Firm (Iowa); Storslee Law Firm (North Dakota); Clemens, Korhn, Liming & Warncke (Ohio); Shumaker, Loop, & Kendrick (Ohio); Lamkin, Van Eman, Trimble & Dougherty (Ohio); Stanley M. Stein (Pennsylvania); Steptoe & Johnson (West Virginia); Jones Day (multiple locations), and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (multiple locations).

Dr. Elhai is a member of Elhai Psychological Consultants, LLC. He is located in Northwestern Ohio, but also travels elsewhere for consultation. To discuss potential consultation, contact Dr. Elhai.

Listed below is a subset of papers authored by Dr. Elhai that are relevant to forensic or legal issues. The majority of these papers involve forensic issues in establishing or contesting a PTSD diagnosis, and/or in evaluating genuine vs. malingered PTSD. 

Papers that are marked with a number sign are empirical, scientific studies, while papers not marked are review/theoretical papers. 

  • Elhai, J. D., Sweet, J. J., Breting, L. G. & Kaloupek, D. (2012). Assessment in contexts that threaten response validity. In J. J. Vasterling, R. A. Bryant, & T. M. Keane (Eds.), PTSD and mild traumatic brain injury (pp. 174-198). New York: Guilford Press.

  • Demakis, G. J., & Elhai, J. D. (2011). Neuropsychological and psychological aspects of malingered posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Injury and Law, 4, 24-31. 

  • Frueh, B. C., Elhai, J. D., & Acierno, R. (2010). The future of posttraumatic stress disorder in the DSM. Psychological Injury and Law, 3, 260-270.

  • #Gray, M. J., Elhai, J. D., & Briere, J. (2010). Evaluation of the Atypical Response Scale of the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2 in detecting simulated posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 447-451.

  • #Grubaugh, A. L., Elhai, J. D., Ruggiero, K. J., Egede, L. E., Naifeh, J. A., & Frueh, B. C. (2009). Equity in Veterans Affairs disability claims adjudication in a national sample of veterans. Military Medicine, 174, 1241-1246.

  • Long, M. E., & Elhai, J. D. (2009). Posttraumatic stress disorder’s traumatic stressor criterion: History, controversy, clinical and legal implications. Psychological Injury and Law, 2, 167-178.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Butcher, J. J., Reeves, A. N., Baugher, S. N., Gray, M. J., Jacobs, G. A., Fricker-Elhai, A. E., North, T. C., & Arbisi, P. A. (2007). Varying cautionary instructions, monetary incentives and comorbid diagnostic training in malingered psychopathology research. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88, 328-337.

  • Frueh, B. C., Grubaugh, A. L., Elhai, J. D., & Buckley, T. C. (2007). US Department of Veterans Affairs disability policies for posttraumatic stress disorder: Administrative trends and implications for treatment, rehabilitation, and research. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 2143-2145.

  • #Kashdan, T. B., Elhai, J. D., & Frueh, B. C. (2007). Anhedonia, emotional numbing, and symptom overreporting in male veterans with PTSD. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 725-735.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Gray, M. J., Naifeh, J. A., Butcher, J. J., Davis, J. L., Falsetti, S. A., & Best, C. L. (2005). Utility of the Trauma Symptom Inventory in detecting malingered posttraumatic stress disorder. Assessment, 12, 210-219.

  • #Frueh, B. C., Elhai, J. D., Grubaugh, A. L., Monnier, J., Kashdan, T. B., Sauvageot, J. A., Hamner, M. B., Burkett, B. G., & Arana, G. W. (2005). Documented combat exposure of U.S. veterans seeking treatment for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 467-472.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Naifeh, J. A., Zucker, I. S., Gold, S. N., Deitsch, S. E., & Frueh, B. C. (2004). Discriminating malingered from genuine civilian posttraumatic stress disorder: A validation of three MMPI-2 infrequency scales (F, Fp, and Fptsd). Assessment, 11, 139-144.

  • #Grubaugh, A. L., Elhai, J. D., Monnier, J., & Frueh, B. C. (2004). Service utilization among compensation-seeking veterans. Psychiatric Quarterly, 75, 333-341.

  • #Kozel, F. A., Revell, L. J., Lorberbaum, J. P., Shastri, A., Elhai, J. D., Horner, M. D., Smith, A., Nahas, Z., Bohning, D. E., & George, M. S. (2004). A pilot study of functional magnetic resonance imaging brain correlates of deception in healthy young men. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 16, 295-305.

  • Elhai, J. D., Kinder, B. N., & Frueh, B. C. (2003). Projective assessment of malingering. In M. Hilsenroth & D. Segal (Eds.), Personality Assessment. Volume 2 in M. Hersen (Ed.-in-Chief), Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment (pp. 553-561). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

  • #Frueh, B. C., Elhai, J. D., Gold, P. B., Monnier, J., Magruder, K. M., Keane, T. M., & Arana, G. W. (2003). Disability compensation seeking among veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatric Services, 54, 84-91.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Ruggiero, K. J., Frueh, B. C., Beckham, J. C., Gold, P. B., & Feldman, M. E. (2002). The Infrequency-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder scale (Fptsd) for the MMPI-2: Development and initial validation with veterans presenting with combat-related PTSD. Journal of Personality Assessment, 79, 531-549. 

  • Frueh, B. C., & Elhai, J. D. (2002). The problem of symptom overreporting in the assessment of PTSD combat veterans. Directions in clinical psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 13-23). Long Island, NY: Hatherleigh.

  • #Elhai, J. D., & Frueh, B. C. (2001). Subtypes of clinical presentations in malingerers of posttraumatic stress disorder: An MMPI-2 cluster analysis. Assessment, 8, 75-84.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Gold, S. N., Sellers, A. H., & Dorfman, W. I. (2001). The detection of malingered posttraumatic stress disorder with MMPI-2 fake bad indices. Assessment, 8, 221-236.

  • #Elhai, J. D., Gold, P. B., Frueh, B. C., & Gold, S. N. (2000). Cross-validation of the MMPI-2 in detecting malingered posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Personality Assessment, 75, 449-463.

  • #Elhai, J. D. (2000). The detection of genuine and malingered posttraumatic stress disorder: An examination of fake bad indices on the MMPI-2. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61(5-B), (University Microfilms No. AAI99-75591). 

In addition to these papers authored by Dr. Elhai related to forensic or legal issues, his total collection of papers can also be viewed…