Karin Huffer, a licensed marriage and family therapist, thinks a sign should be hung outside courtrooms that says:  "Warning:  Protracted litigation can be hazardous to your health."

But hazardous may be too mild a term.

The Las Vegas woman has written a book, "Legal Abuse Syndrome."  Huffer likens LAS to post-traumatic stress disorder, which is normally associated with soldiers returning from war.

The syndrome is not caused by the original trauma of crime, divorce, or other problems that land people in court.  It occurs when people are beaten up in a system that Huffer says holds them hostage.

It's stress triggered by such legal abuses as mean-spirited questioning, misinformation that confuses the truth, character assassination and "everyone losing but the attorneys, "Huffer says.

Victims often are shell-shocked after a lengthy court battle.  Some who are victims of unfair rulings fantasize about vigilante vengeance because they believe it's their only recourse to justice.  They feel like they have been punished instead of the perpetrator.

"Legal abuse syndrome is a natural and normal response to an abnormal, unnatural, cumulative trauma," Huffer writes.  "Any attempt by any person to discredit an individual's testimony, character or actions due to their suffering from Legal Abuse Syndrome is to clearly demonstrate the aberrant nature of our system of problem-solving."

While such abuse can be found in all courts - civil, criminal and family - it's especially pervasive in family courts, where people often end up emotionally and financially devastated.

"It's easy to ignite the negative fires instead of finding resolutions," Huffer says.

Normal, law-abiding citizens go to court and expect the right thing to be done, but are stunned when they are denied due process.

Court becomes a sport, and a person's life is on the line, she says.

Huffer says the outcome of cases often depends on the individual and how he or she comes across - not necessarily the facts of the case.

"When you go to court, it's an Olympic event and you don't go in without training," she says.

So Huffer becomes a trainer, helping litigants learn to testify more effectively and how to keep focused on the issues.  Mental toughness is the key.

Huffer, who has a degree in psychology, has a private practice but also works with the Clark County School District, dealing with middle-school students who have been kicked out of school.

Ten years ago, she watched her husband undergo problems in court, and began wondering how widespread the problems were.  She devised a questionnaire, which was distributed to people across the country who had problems with the legal system.  She promoted the questionnaire on talk shows, and used the responses as research for her book.

One respondent had been dealing with the legal system for an incredible 18 years - for the entire rearing of her children.  Divorced from a gaming executive, she was awarded support but couldn't collect a dime because he tied it up in the system.  He thought she wouldn't - or couldn't - fight back.  She persevered, but tumbled from a comfortable financial position to being broke.

In these cases, the person's spirit is broken.  They often become obsessed with their cases and circumstances.  The key to healing is dealing with that obsession - facing the problem, managing it, knowing how to assess blame and how to shed the shame of being a victim.

Huffer outlines eight steps in the healing process:  debriefing, grieving, obsession, blaming, deshaming, reframing, empowerment and recovery.

Although Huffer's research turned up many "nightmarish cases," she says she's only scratched the surface.

People are frustrated when they continually present proof of their case in court, but are ignored.  Sometimes the judges are in the worst position to know the truth, she says.

In contentious divorce and custody cases, how do you know for certain who's telling the truth?  How do you differentiate between the true victim and the one out for revenge?

Huffer says real victims want to give something back, such as offering to help reform the system.  Those playing the victims are only interested in taking.  They "don't need $6 billion because they got coffee spilled on them at McDonald's."

Huffer believes attorneys are partly to blame for people's lack of trust in the legal system and its adversarial environment.  They charge exorbitant fees and clients often wonder what they're getting for their money.

Although behavioral scientists and attorneys generally have an adversarial relationship, Huffer says more and more law firms are hiring therapists to weed out problems before they're exacerbated by protracted litigation.

Huffer hopes her research will lead to legislation to prevent "legal abuse."  She is working with Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the shooting victim in the now-infamous Amy Fisher case, and Sherry Spillane, who was involved in a nasty divorce battle with writer Micky Spillane.  One of their goals is more stringent policing of lawyers' tactics in the courtroom.