Liticaphobia Fear of lawsuits
Today’s offering is a timely one, a person cannot watch television these days without seeing at least one firm of lawyers asking the immortal question, “Have you been hurt in an accident and it isn’t your fault?” There is a pervasive sense that anything and everything can be sorted out through the miracle of a lawsuit. Now, of course, what I have just written is from the point of view of a complainant, but what about the complained on. Because of this constant fear that something we do or even don’t do could lead to litigation, people tend to be vigilant and of course vigilance is in itself not a bad thing to be.
However there are people who become so vigilant, that this becomes a fear or anxiety. Liticaphobia is the intense and in some cases irrational fear of lawsuits. This could be caused by the scenario I laid out above, or could be caused by watching too many television shows where court is part of the plot and the sufferer identifies too much with the characters in a negative fashion.
Treatment for this condition consists of getting the client to recognise the genuine likelihood of them becoming involved in a lawsuit and gradually desensitising them to the idea of it. This can be achieved with the use of hypno-psychotherapy.
