Forensic Psychiatry

Synthetic Cathinones: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment

Q&A | April 30, 2013 | Clinical QA, Addiction, Forensic Psychiatry, Substance Use Disorder

By Jason Beaman, DO and Erin E. Hayes, MSIV

Sometimes viewed as “legal cocaine,” the over-the-counter status of synthetic cathinones (aka bath salts) gives the illusion that they are safe. In fact, they are highly toxic.

When a Psychiatrist Is Given a Prison Sentence After a Patient Commits a Crime: Comments on a Disconcerting Case

April 10, 2013 | Tales from the New Asylum, Forensic Psychiatry

By James L. Knoll IV, MD

American psychiatrists might be able to sympathize in the wake of recent mass tragedies leading to new, hastily conceived laws that directly impinge on psychiatric practice, confidentiality, and duty to protect third parties.

Psychiatric Liability: A French Psychiatrist Sentenced After a Murder Committed by Her Patient

April 10, 2013 | Forensic Psychiatry

By Carol Jonas, MD, JD and Nidal Nabhan Abou, MD

On December 18, 2012, French psychiatrist Daniele Canarelli, age 58, received a 1-year suspended prison sentence by the Criminal Court of Marseille after one of her patients killed someone.

Assessing Violence Risk: A Meteorological Analogy

April 09, 2013 | Forensic Psychiatry, Risk Assessment, Cultural Psychiatry, Psychiatric Emergencies, Trauma And Violence

By Robert I. Simon, MD

Both clinicians and weather forecasters employ the same general process of information gathering, analysis, and reaching a conclusion.

The Humanities and Psychiatry: The Rebirth of Mind

March 15, 2013 | Forensic Psychiatry, Major Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Special Reports

By James L. Knoll IV, MD

The humanities are a variety of academic disciplines that focus on the human condition with analytic and sometimes speculative methods. This is in contrast to the empirical methods of the natural sciences.

Introduction: Why Does Psychiatry Need the Humanities?

March 12, 2013 | Cultural Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Major Depressive Disorder, Special Reports

By Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD and Bradley Lewis, MD, PhD

Bringing the arts and humanities to psychiatry requires bringing these areas of study into our education, our research and our practice models.

Shakespeare and Psychiatry: A Personal Meditation

March 12, 2013 | Bipolar Disorder, Forensic Psychiatry, Special Reports

By Alan A. Stone, MD

Shakespeare's understanding of the human condition miraculously transcends his culture, time, and place.

Pages

Videos
Podcasts

Malpractice Pitfalls: Tips To Help You Manage Risk
November 30, 2012 | Risk Assessment, Forensic Psychiatry
Can patient care still be your greatest concern, given today’s litigious landscape? Does patient-focused care need to take a back seat against protecting yourself from malpractice?
Risk Management in Psychiatry: Tips From an Insider on How to Avoid a Malpractice Suit
November 16, 2012 | Risk Assessment, Forensic Psychiatry
By Ba, JD
What steps should you take to avoid being sued? The answer to this all important question can be heard in this video, which stars Skip Simpson, a nationally recognized attorney who has spent his career litigating medical malpractice case
Grand Rounds—Boundary Issues in Clinical Practice
May 08, 2012 | Forensic Psychiatry
By Thomas Gutheil, MD
Psychotherapists have fiduciary power and—from a risk management perspective—the clinician must act in a manner in which misconduct cannot be inferred. In terms of boundary violations, some preventative measures (like psychodynamic education) can be taken.
Revisiting Lodz, Poland, in 2011 and Reconstructing How My Parents Survived the Shoah (1939-1945)
January 26, 2012 | Forensic Psychiatry
By Harold J. Bursztajn, MD
I was 9 years old in December 1959 when I left and 60 in July 2011 when I returned to Lodz, Poland. My return—a journey through time as well as space—was a continuation of a trip from my home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I teach and practice clinical and forensic psychiatry, to Berlin, where I gave a number of presentations at a conference of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health (IALMH).

Evacuation of Psychiatric Inpatients from Bellevue Hospital Post Hurricane Sandy
January 07, 2013 | Disaster Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry
By Elizabeth Ford, MD
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, incarcerated psychiatric patients at Bellevue Hospital had to be evacuated. Because the hospital was flooded and without power, those inpatients had to be moved without the help of elevators, electronic or phone communication, or even running water.
“Bath Salts” and “Herbal Incense”: Truly Not for Human Consumption
June 12, 2012 | Forensic Psychiatry, Addiction, Alcohol Abuse
By James L. Knoll IV, MD
Bath salts and herbal incense—synthetic legal intoxicating drugs (so-called SLIDs)—have potentially serious adverse effects—including acute psychosis, delirium, violent behavior, seizures, and cardiovascular emergencies.
Podcast: Psychiatric Records—Careful of Those Empty Words
December 13, 2011 | Forensic Psychiatry
By Thomas G. Gutheil, MD
In this podcast, Dr Thomas Gutheil talks about a key challenge facing psychiatrists. . . valid medical record keeping. Here: important tips from an expert based on an article he coathored with Dr. Robert Simon.
Tales from the New Asylum: The Valediction (Blogcast)
October 27, 2011 | Forensic Psychiatry
By James L. Knoll IV, MD
Whenever a suicide happens in the New Asylums, a palpable, muted dread descends over the institution...it is added as another sedimentary layer to the strata and culture of the particular institution. Before things get too deeply buried, it is important to excavate...