Forensic Psychiatry

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.

Detainees in state and federal prisons have committed crimes that many of us can never forgive. But how we treat such people beyond the loss of freedom and certain rights is entirely about who we are as a society. More in this commentary.

A variety of commonly used psychiatric medications increase the risk of heatstroke, leaving psychiatric patients in jails and prisons at risk.

Amidst the anguish and heartbreak felt by the victims’ families, there are always two haunting questions: What motivates someone to kill strangers wholesale in a seemingly senseless way? And what, if anything, can we do to stop these tragedies from recurring?

Death penalty cases are extravagantly expensive and drain funding from programs that might actually reduce crime.

Media coverage of murderous rampages comprises a grisly-and vastly profitable-reality show. I’ll call it a Slaughterfest. Why do therapists continue to take part in this offensive entertainment?

The authors emphasize the importance of risk and protective factors and risk prediction models; analyze the growing evidence base for preventive interventions; and describe the concept of mental health promotion.

Emergency psychiatry is helping to redefine acute mental health treatment-facilitating timely access, in less restrictive, outpatient levels of care, for patients in crisis.

Firearms are the means of death in thousands of suicides and homicides every year. There is no denying that free access and wide availability has made gun death a major threat to our public health. More in this commentary.

In periodic entries in his journal, the Columbia Mall shooter acknowledged having a “general hatred toward others.” He had insight into his deteriorating condition, as he felt himself slipping away from rationality and health.

The universe of psychiatric ethics has dramatically expanded. Let us boldly go together where psychiatric ethics has never gone before!

As psychiatrists, we have a potentially unique-and powerful-influence in the discussion of public figures. But what professional and ethical obligations should we follow in this role?

Federal law now strongly supports a patient’s right to view his or her psychiatric record on request. Here: a look at the ethical and legal issues.

There are many stories written about serial killers and murderers, books that narrate the life course of individuals who commit heinous acts. However, few have been written by murderers explaining their lives first-hand.

In March, the Supreme Court will need to set a national standard for the definition of intellectual disability. In doing so they will inevitably have to address a number of complications that arise when clinical constructs, such as intellectual disability, are used in the courtroom.

Practicing psychiatry in a correctional environment differs from traditional outpatient and inpatient venues and presents unique challenges. It can be a rewarding choice of workplace.

Statutes in 8 states are not designed to assure informed decision-making, say these psychiatrists; instead they represent an unprecedented effort by the government to use physician communications as an instrument for discouraging pregnant women from exercising their constitutional right to make their own reproductive choices.

Snuggled into their seats like swaddled babes, moviegoers' safety seems implicit. It is utterly unimaginable that danger could ever be lurking in that enchanted darkness – except for the people on the screen.

It is important to note public misconceptions about the rare and frightening act of mass murder. This article sheds some light on what the author considers the 7 myths of mass murder.

In the eyes of many, the current societal approach to the treatment of psychiatric disorders cannot possibly be considered humane. More in this commentary.

I have often wondered: did any of Parkland's sets of medical eyes experience a moment of stillness with the collective father who had just been declared dead? I readily acknowledge the difficulty with great humility.

Sexual abuse is shockingly common in the US prison system. It has been reported that about 200,000 prisoners are victims of coercive sex each year. Most of those abused are psychiatric patients misplaced in prison.

One is reminded of an ancient tale of 10 blind men sent by a king to describe an elephant. Whichever piece of the beast each blind man touched, so ran his faulty description. At one time or another the FBI, Army, and Hasan’s superiors each touched a piece of Nidal Hasan. Tragically, no one was able to assemble the entire frightful picture, and head him off at the pass.

Army psychiatrist MAJ Nidal Hasan sought to get out of the service, but the Army, which had poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into his military and medical training, offered him no legal exit.

Ideology is much less important than common sense solutions. The mentally ill have many unmet needs and suffer from great and undeserved coercion.

Lack of communication is often a key factor in mass murder, according Phillip Resnick, MD. Although HIPAA is important, the safety of the individual and the public should outweigh privacy issues, and “risk to human life always trumps confidentiality.”

Some attorneys have argued that SSRIs cause serious adverse events, capable of compelling defendants to engage in strikingly complex criminal behavior. On close examination, however, these phenomena may be clearly distinguished from criminal behavior.