scholarly journals Multidisciplinary Teamwork and the Insanity Defence: A Case of Infanticide in Iraq

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-153
Author(s):  
Hasanen Al-Taiar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Young Lady ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Hospital Treatment ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Treatment Order ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teamwork

AbstractIn April 2018, the author had an opportunity to visit Al-Rashad Hospital (where the only forensic psychiatry unit in Iraq exists) and he had the chance to meet with the brave psychiatrists and mental health professionals who worked in the oldest psychiatric hospital in Iraq. The author was amazed by how these colleagues operate amidst all challenges, limited financial resources and funding difficulties.The author was impressed by the work of the forensic psychiatry committee which determines the criminal responsibility of a large number of cases from all over Iraq. He had the chance of attending the Ministry of Health’s specialist panel which determines criminal responsibility for mentally disordered detainees. He attended the assessment of a young lady who was remanded on suspicion of killing her 1 year old son (infanticide). The panel and after two interviews concluded that the suspect had autism and learning disability. The patient was deemed irresponsible for her criminal behaviour and she was eventually granted an equivalent of a hospital treatment order.

Forensic psychiatry

2019 ◽  
pp. 721-784
Author(s):  
David Semple ◽  
Roger Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Mentally Disordered Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Court Liaison

Covering the role of the psychiatrist in forensic situations, from participation in the criminal justice system and legal definitions of crime (including homicide, violence, and sexual offences) to the relationship between mental disorders and offending, this chapter addresses secure hospitals and units, police and court liaison, and the role of the prison psychiatry. Legal provisions and how to give evidence in court are described, and an overview of pathways through the criminal health and justice system for mentally disordered offenders is provided. Fitness to plead and criminal responsibility are both explained.

The Designated Forensic Professional Program in Massachusetts

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Ira K. Packer ◽  
Thomas Grisso
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Competence To Stand Trial ◽  
Forensic Evaluations ◽  
National Model ◽  
University Of Massachusetts ◽  
The University

The Designated Forensic Professional Program in Massachusetts, a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, was started in 1985 for the purpose of providing specialty training and certification to mental health professionals providing public-sector evaluations of competence to stand trial and criminal responsibility to the Massachusetts courts. The program initially certified only psychologists but was eventually expanded to include forensic psychiatrists as well. The approach involves intensive mentoring and supervision and serves as a national model for states wishing to train public sector mental health professionals in the delivery of specialized forensic evaluations.

Seven Myths About Feigning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Jelicic ◽  
Harald Merckelbach ◽  
Irena Bošković
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Clinical Interviews ◽  
Faking Good ◽  
General Psychiatry

Defendants may feign of psychiatric disorders to reduce their criminal responsibility. In this chapter, seven myths about feigning are debunked. It shows that: (1) Clinical interviews cannot be used to detect feigning of psychopathology and cognitive impairments; (2) pretending to have a disorder is ubiquitous in forensic and general psychiatry: (3) people are able to feign for a prolonged period of time; (4) feigners are not ill; (5) mental health professionals should not be kind to feigners; (6) there is no exclusive feigning–psychopathy link; and (7) feigning and faking good may occur together. In addition, tests are described that can detect feigning in a valid way.

Adjustment Disorders

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Adjustment Disorder ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Child And Adolescent Psychiatry ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Dsm 5 ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Case Vignettes

Adjustment disorder has been included in the psychiatric classifications for half a century, but despite its age, this is the first book devoted exclusively to the condition. The starting point is to delineate its origins and how it differs from normal distress. The philosophical and clinical dilemmas raised by this diagnosis are considered in the early chapters of this book. The development of new screening and diagnostic tools will assist in epidemiological studies. The radical proposal to have specific criteria for AD in ICD-11 is reviewed critically as this would lead to significant differences between DSM-5 and ICD-11. Psychobiology, treatment, and prognosis are discussed in the middle sections of this work, and specialists in a number of areas—including child and adolescent psychiatry, learning disability, occupational health, and forensic psychiatry—have made invaluable contributions. This book will fill the vacuum for doctors and other mental health professionals working with those who have AD. The generous use of case vignettes invigorates the theory behind the practice.

Expertise, procedure and the possibility of a comparative history of forensic psychiatry in the nineteenth century

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Smith
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Comparative History ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Administrative Procedure ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Interests ◽  
History Of

SynopsisThe comparative history of forensic psychiatry may help unravel relations between legal and administrative procedure, medical knowledge and expertise, and social interests, as they determine judgements about the criminal responsibility of the mentally disordered. But little has been done to compare the past or the present under different jurisdictions. This paper, therefore, suggests some points which would encourage such comparisons, and particularly a comparison between France and England in the nineteenth century, for both of which countries there is now a valuable historical literature. It also illustrates the complex interaction of procedure and medical expertise by reference to the case of George Victor Townley (1863).

Paranoia: When criminology predicts vocational prognosis

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S586-S586
Author(s):  
B. Ghajati ◽  
G. Sahar ◽  
B. Imen ◽  
R. Rim
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Forensic Psychiatry ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Delusional Disorder ◽  
Acting Out ◽  
Attempted Murder ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Disorder Type

Patients with paranoia have always been a group of exiting but daunting patients for mental health professionals. Indeed, the risk of a violent acting out with important aggressive discharges confers to these patients an elevated dangerosity potential. If various criminological aspects of violence in paranoia have been described, their link to functional prognosis of patients have been seldom addressed.AimTo determine if criminological details of violence acts in paranoia patients predict their functional prognosis.MethodsA retrospective, descriptive and analytic study have been conducted, based on a chart consult. Twenty-three patients with paranoia (i.e. Chronic delusional disorder type jealousy or erotomania in DSM IV) patients have been included. These patients have been hospitalized in the forensic psychiatry department of Razi hospital of Tunis (Tunisia), between 1995 and 2015, after not being held by reason of insanity, according to article 38 of the Tunisian Criminal Code.ResultsDelusional disorder types were: jealousy (17), persecution (4), erotomania (1) and claim (1). The majority were married (18), undereducated (17), with irregular work (13). Forensic acts were uxoricide (15), attempted murder (5), violence against people (2) and destruction of public properties (1). Patients used bladed weapon in most of the cases (13), in the victim's residence (19), with premeditation in (17) of the crimes. Only 5 patients worked regularly after discharge.ConclusionIf our results expose further data concerning potential dangerosity of patients with delusional disorders, they also highlight the marginalized situation of these patients when released back into society.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals The current state of mental healthcare in Bangladesh: part 2 – setting priorities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
M. Tasdik Hasan ◽  
Tasnim Anwar ◽  
Enryka Christopher ◽  
Sahadat Hossain ◽  
Md Mahbub Hossain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Current State ◽  
Mental Health Facilities

This is the second of a two-part profile on mental healthcare in Bangladesh. It describes the state of mental health research in the country and presents a set of priorities for addressing improvements to the fundamental gaps in mental healthcare highlighted in part 1. Focus on building infrastructure for public mental health facilities, training skilled mental health professionals, adequate distribution of financial resources and addressing stigma are all priorities that will contribute to significantly improving mental healthcare in Bangladesh.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document