Academic Press Forensic Psychiatry: A Lawyer's Guide

Lawyers frequently encounter clients and/or cases of bizarre behavior, mental illness, substance abuse, psychopathy, sexual offenses, learning disorders, birth defects, and other behavioral and emotional issues. Often they are ill-prepared to understand the nature of the psychiatric report, how the psychiatric assessment was structured, and how to best utilize and challenge these reports in court.Forensic Psychiatry: A Lawyer’s Guide provides legal professionals the tools to identify mentally ill clients and help them navigate through the psychiatric information and language in reports and testimony. Topics include why a forensic psychiatrist is necessary, applications of psychiatry to law, various psychiatric disorders, and utilizing the expert witness. A user-friendly roadmap to psychiatry for the non-psychiatrist―covers why you need a forensic psychiatrist and the applications of psychiatry to law Provides coverage of the mental status examination, common psychiatric diagnoses, treatable disorders versus brain damage, medical problems masquerading as mental illness, and much more Includes a full glossary of psychiatric terms as an additional easy reference guide