Forensic Psychiatry

The trend toward transparent documentation has potential for many benefits, yet it remains a provocative concept for the field of psychiatry. In this podcast, Dr Helen Farrell answers several salient questions about transparency.

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.

An expert discusses behavioral indicators and screening instruments for suicide risk.

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

Maltreatment at an early age casts a very long shadow. Here: a look at the long-term effects of early childhood trauma.

The number of persons affected by elder mistreatment and self-neglect is growing-with consequent increases in morbidity and premature mortality.

Why do you need to know about Munchausen by Proxy? Answers here.

Substantial progress has been made in the development of etiologic models of intimate partner violence and interventions for individuals who assault their intimate partners. These authors provide details.

The recent 2014 Joint Report of the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriffs’ Association could have been a most useful and timely report on the woefully inadequate access to appropriate levels of mental health services for incarcerated seriously mentally ill persons. This author believes the report will only make the problem worse.

Suicide is a pervasive public health issue for adolescents in Hawaii. In response, a youth leadership model was initiated to empower young leaders in suicide prevention through evidence-based training, relationship building, and community awareness.

The institutions of yesterday were overcrowded, noisy, and often had a distinctive odor. Patients were neglected and mistreated. Yet those problems have been replaced with a different set. More in this commentary.

Epidemiological research has shown that the Māori people of New Zealand are approximately twice as likely to have serious psychiatric illness compared with non-Māori. Here, a child and adolescent psychiatrist describes her work in Aotearoa, New Zealand.