Forensic Psychiatry

It is important to recognize and document the abilities and deficits of a patient in order to determine capacity.

Addiction and mental health treatment has fallen increasingly into the justice system for underserved and indigent patients. How do we bring state-of-the art treatment to this population in desperate need?

In this issue of Psychiatric Times, the authors cover climate change, women's health issues, forensic psychiatry, addiction and AIDS, cultural psychiatry, and other clinically useful topics.

There has probably never been a worse place and worse time to have a severe mental illness than now in the United States. How did we get into this mess?

With a consistent and evolving presence in the US, forensic psychiatry has grown increasingly complex, with many specialty areas under its subspecialty umbrella.

Psychiatrists should not be afraid to assess parenting issues and other stressors when treating depressed or psychotic parents of young children.

About 25% of children in the US live with only one parent; the fallout from contentious divorces often leaves them susceptible to any number of damaging scenarios.

This article reviews a wide array of medicolegal, risk management, regulatory, and forensic mental health issues in the older population, which is growing at an accelerated rate.

Reporting of symptoms that are beyond available medical evidence is a central feature of malingering and related conditions, making the clinical differentiation of these disorders a challenge.

This article focuses primarily on the issues facing a psychiatrist who has been retained as an expert witness in a will or trust contest involving claims of a lack of capacity.

Clinicians have some degree of power. We must curb abuse-whether under the guise of research, transference in psychotherapy, in prescribing medication, or when deciding on treatments.

The authors explore ways to address aggression in clinical practice and examine the potentially dangerous impulsivity-violence link across a broad range of conditions.

Radicalization by Norwegian converts to the Prophet’s Ummah produced massive and terrible social consequences. The explanations offered may be pertinent to the current attraction that ISIS offers for too many young persons in many countries of the civilized world.

Loneliness, substance abuse, dating violence, and hopelessness, are just some of the risk factors for suicide, which remains the second leading cause of death for college students.

After being sued for psychiatric malpractice and enduringa 4-year roller-coaster ride of fear, hope, hard work, anxiety, and detachment, the author passes along lessons learned.

The author applies psychodynamic psychology to understand and recognize so-called "homegrown" terrorists, individuals who are familiar with American culture and thus more difficult to detect.

Therapeutic lying, a concept that is currently seeping into the medical literature, is the practice of deliberately deceiving patients for reasons considered in their best interest.

When did human rights become negotiable in the US? A commentary on dismantling and closure of federal and state mental hospitals.

Good documentation can be used by psychiatrists to enhance the physician-patient relationship. Of course, transparency could come at a price to practitioners, so following reasonable guidelines outlined in this article is key.

The author concludes that people inappropriately placed in psychiatric hospitals can lead to grave violation of human rights.

Dostoevsky wrote 135 years ago, but his critique of forensic psychiatry and forensic psychology stands the test of time.

As the nation focuses on public protests regarding the deaths of black males by white officers, psychiatric groups take notice.

For those suffering from severe mental illness, this is the worst of times. Walk the streets of any city and you will find multitudes of the mentally ill left homeless to fend as best they can for themselves.

Some inflexible anti-psychiatrists are blind ideologues who see only the limits and harms of mental health treatment, not its necessity or any of its benefits. More in this commentary.

The psychopath has the image of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?

Are psychiatrists mandated to report patient self-disclosures of child abuse in every case? The answer might surprise you.

This is the fourth in a series of blogs devoted to our society’s shameful neglect of people with severe mental illness.

If we didn't so stigmatize the severely mentally ill, we would feel an urgent responsibility to rescue them immediately from prison and homelessness.

What do you include in your differential diagnosis if you suspect Munchausen syndrome? Take the quiz and learn more.

All psychiatrists must familiarize themselves with relevant reporting statutes and be knowledgeable about what constitutes neglect or abuse.