Corroboration matters in expert assessments

• Medical records and other corroborative information are essential for substantive psychological and some other expert assessments. This is to control for bias and to avoid over-reliance on the client’s account of the client.
• This article gives guidance on how to access this material, and how to treat it.

Medical records are vital for experts such as psychologists and psychiatrists in all legal proceedings. A good psychological report will include so-called corroborative information. This is information from independent sources that complements the client’s account, filling in any gaps in their memory, whether trauma-induced or age-related. The client may have been too young to remember certain events from their past or may have ‘forgotten’ them due to trauma.

This really does happen—research shows that people who have experienced significant trauma often cope with adverse experiences by ‘forgetting’ some of them. This information will also help the expert