High Conflict People in Legal Disputes (Second Edition, Revised and Updated)

Make sense of the fears that drive people to file lawsuits, complaints and wreak havoc for legal professionals and everyone.

People with high conflict personalities (HCPs) clog our courts as plaintiffs with inappropriate claims against their personal "targets of blame," and as defendants who have harmed others and need to be stopped. Everybody knows someone with a High Conflict Personality. "How can he be so unreasonable?" "Why does she keep fighting? Can't she see how destructive she is?" "Can you believe they're going to court over ______?"

Some HCPs are more difficult than others, but they tend to share a similar preoccupation with blame that drives them into one dispute after anotherand keeps everyone perplexed about how to deal with them.

Using case examples and an analysis of the general litigation and negotiation behaviors of HCPs, this book helps make sense of the fears that drive people to file lawsuits and complaints. It provides insight for containing their behavior while managing and/or resolving their disputes. Characteristics of the five "high-conflict" personality disorders are explored:

• Borderline
• Narcissistic
• Histrionic
• Paranoid
• Antisocial

New in this edition:

• Updates from the 2013 release of the revised DSM-5
• New chapter on Paranoid Personality Disorder
• New chapter on Presenting Your Case
• Research on the prevalence of personality disorders
• New case examples