Forensic Psychiatry

• Includes relevant case examples to aid in highlighting and clarifying concepts introduced
• Contains extensive cross-referencing, enabling easy navigation between different sections
• Relevant law tables, summaries of legislation, and key legal cases to improve understanding

Readership: Trainee psychiatrists, consultant and qualified forensic psychiatrists, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, lawyers working with psychiatrists, especially in criminal law, family law and mental health law, judges and other court officials, trainee lawyers and para-legal staff and other professionals in the criminal justice system.

Nigel Eastman, Professor in Law and Ethics in Psychiatry, St George's, University of London, UK, Gwen Adshead, Consultant Forensic Psychotherapist, Broadmoor Hospital, UK, Simone Fox, Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, and Multisystemic Therapy Supervisor, South-West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust and Lecturer, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, Richard Latham, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, East London NHS Foundation Trust, UK, and Seán Whyte, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, South-West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, UK

Nigel Eastman is Professor of Law and Ethics in Psychiatry at St George's, University of London and an Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the NHS, assessing and treating patients in medium security. Dually qualified as a doctor and barrister, he has researched and published widely on law and ethics relating to mental disorder and mental healthcare, as well as on policy and services for mentally disordered offenders. He is an advisor to the Law Commission, lectures for the Judicial Studies Board for England and Wales, as well as to judges in other jurisdictions, and has given evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees on law and psychiatry.

Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She trained in forensic psychiatry at St Georges' Hospital and then worked at the Institute of Psychiatry as a lecturer in forensic psychiatry. she then trained as a group psychotherapist; and for the last ten years has worked as a consultant psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital. Gwen also has a Master's degree in medical law and ethics.

Dr Fox has worked with adult mentally disordered offenders in medium secure units and prison. She started working with young offenders in 2004 within a Young Offenders Institution. She currently works in both clinical and academic settings. In her clinical role she is responsible for supervising a Multisystemic Therapy (MST) Project in South West London which aims to prevent young people with antisocial behaviour entering care or custody. Her academic role is as a lecturer/clinical tutor on the Royal Holloway, University of London, Clinical Psychology training course. She is also involved in undertaking psycho-legal assessments for young people for the Criminal Courts.

Richard Latham is a consultant forensic psychiatrist working in East London. He has a special interest in law and psychiatry. His clinical practice is in both medium secure care and community forensic psychiatry. He is currently involved in a pilot project of crown court psychiatric liaison.

Seán Whyte is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with CCTs in both general adult and forensic psychiatry. He has worked in a variety of hospital, community and secure institutional settings in both specialties and now leads the Community Forensic Team for South-West London, in addition to teaching and court work.

"This is a wonderful book and I was not disappointed. I wish it had been available when I started my training in forensic psychiatry but I will use it frequently in the future. Every forensic psychiatry trainee (and many others besides) should own a copy." - The Psychiatrist, Nov 2012

"Distinguished by its thoroughness and clarity, this superb handbook guides practitioners through the sometimes miasmic overlap between psychiatry and law." - Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor, Richmond Green Chambers

"I learnt something from every page I read, either about psychiatry and mental disorder or about how experienced mental health professionals perceive the workings of the law relating to their field. The book is well written and clearly set out, with useful vignettes illustrating the points being made. The knowledge, wisdom and humanity of the authors shine through the book and make it a real pleasure, as well as an education, to read." - Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, President Elect of the Law Society

"If it is indeed the case -as Eastman and colleagues claim, that 'The law asks questions that science cannot answer and science answers questions that the law does not ask...'; then practitioners needs a sophisticated navigational aid to guide them in treacherous waters. Forensic Psychiatry provides such guidance. A careful reading of its content will enable the practitioner to progress unscathed through this minefield of conflicting paradigms and constructs. Encyclopaedic in its scope, thorough and fair-minded in its analysis, it sets the standard against which other texts in its field will be judged in the future." - Conor Duggan, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK

"The relationship between criminal law and mental disorder is not one-dimensional nor is it by any means fixed. The great skill of the authors, all leaders in their field, is to bring the two disciplines together in one text and explain the relationship in a practical and effective manner consistent with their stated aim of enabling readers to find out key facts and issues within a given topic simply, rapidly, and in an easily digestible form. Given the breadth of coverage, the complexities of the issues and fact-sensitive nature of the relationship between law and psychiatry, that is an incredible achievement. This handbook is an invaluable must, not only for those lawyers and clinicians working at the interface between law and psychiatry, but also to anyone interested in understanding how our society approaches some of the most difficult and testing examples of mental disorder and offending behaviour." - Mr Keir Starmer QC

"The expertise of Professor Nigel Eastman and his co-authors need no emphasis from me. This handbook will undoubtedly be of great benefit to all those whose professional life takes them into the Court of Protection. Part IV gives an admirably clear guide to help non lawyers understand our various justice systems, both as to law and procedure. The clarity of this section and the absence of technical language offers real encouragement to the newcomer. The introduction to case law within the appendices is particularly useful for its compression to the single relevant significance of each of the well selected cases." - Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Thorpe, Head of International Family Justice for England & Wales

Introduction to the handbook1:
Clinical forensic psychiatry2:
Clinical and social aspects of crime
Mental disorders in forensic psychiatry
Assessment in forensic psychiatry
Risk assessment
Treatment
Risk management
Forensic psychiatry services
The ethics of forensic psychiatry3:
Ethical decision-making
Professional duties and personal integrity
Conflicting ethical values
Clinical situations raising ethical issues
Law relevant to psychiatry4:
The interface between psychiatry and law
Legal systems
Criminal law
Mental health and mental capacity law
Psychiatry within the legal system5:
The criminal justice system
Legal tests relevant to psychiatry
Civil legal issues
The psychiatrist in court
Applied ethics and testimony
Providing reports
Giving evidence
Appendices6:
Appendices