The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
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Authorship in forensic psychiatry is a life-long commitment to learning, creativity, and professional growth. Forensic psychiatrists are writers, by choice and by necessity. ⋯ Effective writing enhances clarity of communications with attorneys, judges, and others in the legal system. Writing with clarity and precision is a core competency in forensic psychiatry.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2007
CommentCommentary: delving further into liability for psychotherapy supervision.
In their article, "Liability and Risk Management in Outpatient Psychotherapy Supervision," Recupero and Rainey discuss some of the difficult matters related to outpatient psychotherapy supervision. We offer this commentary to make observations about their article and to further the discussion of liability and risk management. We believe there is a need to include this type of information in the orientation of supervisors and supervises and to make discussions of liability and risk management a part of outpatient psychotherapy supervision.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2007
Practice GuidelineAAPL Practice Guideline for the forensic psychiatric evaluation of competence to stand trial.
Competence to stand trial is a legal construct used to identify those criminal defendants who have the requisite mental capacity to understand the nature and objective of the proceedings against them and to participate rationally in preparing their defense. This Practice Guideline has described how psychiatrists should evaluate individuals concerning their competence to stand trial. The Guideline describes acceptable forensic psychiatric practice for such evaluations. ⋯ At a minimum, a psychiatrist's opinion about adjudicative competence should reflect an understanding of the jurisdictional standard and of how the defendant's mental condition affects competence as defined with the jurisdiction. The psychiatrist's report should clearly describe the opinion and the reasoning that leads to it. Psychiatrists who provide mental health expertise concerning adjudicative competence give trial courts information needed to assure that defendants can appropriately protect themselves and that criminal proceedings will be accurate, dignified,and just.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2007
Involuntary medication treatment for competency restoration of 22 defendants with delusional disorder.
There are no published data on the rates of competency restoration for adjudicated incompetent felony criminal defendants diagnosed with delusional disorder. A retrospective record review was conducted of all incompetent defendants with the principal diagnosis of delusional disorder who had undergone involuntary medication treatment for competency restoration during a 13-year period at a federal psychiatric prison hospital. ⋯ Seventeen (77%) of the defendants with delusional disorder improved sufficiently for the forensic evaluators to opine that they had been restored to competency after involuntary treatment with antipsychotic medication. These results are similar to the published data of the relatively high rates of competency restoration for incompetent defendants with diagnosed schizophrenia.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2007
Biography Historical ArticlePersonal reflections on a career of transitions.