A serious injury changes more than your body. The psychological toll — anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and grief over lost function — is just as real as the physical damage, and for many people, harder to treat...
Category - Psychology
Competency to Stand Trial: How Courts Decide and Why It’s Contested
Every functioning criminal justice system faces the same foundational question: can a person who cannot understand what is happening to them be fairly tried for a crime? The American answer, rooted in centuries of common law and...
When Trauma Meets the Legal System: How Unmet Legal Needs Affect Psychological Healing
Trauma doesn’t end when the immediate danger does. For survivors of interpersonal violence — whether sexual assault, intimate partner abuse, or serious accidents — the psychological aftermath often unfolds alongside a...
The Psychological Wounds of Nursing Home Abuse — and Why the Law Is Finally Catching Up
When we place a parent or grandparent in a nursing facility, we are doing something that cuts against every instinct we have as caregivers. We are handing over the most intimate responsibilities of care — feeding, bathing...
The Psychological Toll of Workplace Violations: What San Francisco Employment Law Tells Us About Worker Well-Being
When employers break the law, the damage isn’t only financial. The psychological science of workplace injustice reveals lasting wounds — and San Francisco’s legal framework is built to address both. Every year...
The Psychological Aftermath of Car Accidents: Why the Emotional Crash Hits Harder Than the Physical Impact
Most people think about car accidents in terms of twisted metal, broken bones, and insurance claims. But the psychological wreckage often lasts far longer than the physical injuries — and it’s something that both survivors...
The Psychological Price of Parental Alienation: When Divorce Turns Children Into Weapons
There’s a specific kind of nightmare that doesn’t end when you wake up. It’s the one where your child—the person you’d walk through fire for—suddenly looks at you like you’re a stranger. Or worse...
Motorcycle Accidents, the Human Mind, and the Law: Where Psychology Shapes Liability
Motorcycle accidents are often framed as purely mechanical failures or momentary lapses in judgment. That framing is convenient—and incomplete. In reality, motorcycle crashes sit at the intersection of cognitive psychology, risk...
The Psychology of Sitting Across from Your Almost-Ex: Why Divorce Mediation Works When Your Brain Says It Shouldn’t
There’s something deeply unnatural about divorce mediation. You’re supposed to sit in a room with someone you once promised forever to, someone who now represents everything that went wrong, and calmly negotiate who...
The Psychology of Decision-Making Under Criminal Investigation
Criminal investigations are typically analyzed through the lens of procedure: evidence collection, statutory thresholds, and constitutional safeguards. Yet decades of psychological research suggest that the most consequential...