'Nervous shock' cases form an area of law, which illustrates well the operation of judicial policy. It is possible from such cases to trace the changing attitudes of lawyers, doctors and of society in general to psychiatric injury over the last century. These cases also highlight the changing judicial attitudes to the scope of duty of care and to the whole issue of policy decisions. The recognition of nervous shock similarly illustrates the development of medical knowledge in relation to psychiatric injury. The recognition of Post traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) has been a relatively new and...

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has commissioned recent research which has indicated that: . about half a million people in the UK experience work-related stress at a level they believe is making them ill; . up to 5 million people in the UK feel "very" or "extremely" stressed by their work; and . a total of 12.8 million working days were lost to stress, depression and anxiety in 2004/5. Work-related stress is therefore a serious problem and tackling it effectively can result in significant benefits for organizations. This can result in a happier and more productive workforce with fewer...