Mastering Forensic Psychiatric Practice: Advanced Strategies for the Expert Witness

Designed as the conceptual successor to The Psychiatrist as Expert Witness, this book takes the subject to the next level. The authors, two of the leading forensic practitioners in the field, draw on both their own extensive experience and empirical research to provide vital information on the exciting and growing field of forensic psychiatry. Covering such topics as attorney-expert relations, the pitfalls of cross-examination, and forensic countertransference, this book is certain to become an essential reference in the field.

Once based largely on anecdotal material and thus considered mystifying and idiosyncratic, forensic psychiatry has come into its own as an exciting and uniquely rewarding specialty. This groundbreaking work, designed as the conceptual successor to The Psychiatrist as Expert Witness (American Psychiatric Publishing 1998), discusses work in subject areas thatdespite extensive ad hoc discussions in professional forumshave until now lacked systematic exploration. Here, two leading forensic practitioners present the first truly comprehensive overview of previously unavailable data from actual forensic practice. Focusing on the privately retained practitioner within the civil context of Americas legal system, this incomparable reference examines forensic practice from basics to trial:

? Case preparation, including the various roles of the psychiatric expert witness as consultant, business person, teacher, advocate, witness, and performer; boundary issues; the theoretical and empirical dimensions of fee agreements and finances, including model fee agreement guidelines? Attorney-expert relations (a topic once considered taboo), including attorney pressures on the expert witness, the early warning signs and empirical study of endangered honesty and objectivity (featuring a model consent form for forensic examinations), and the phantom expert, which discusses the use of the experts name without consent, or alleged testimony as a legal strategy? Pitfalls of cross-examination, such as personal questions, experts disclosures about opposing experts, and the effect of the Daubert case, which established a benchmark for admissibility of expert witness testimony in preparing psychiatric/psychological testimony for court? Forensic countertransference, with topics such as the early warning signs of compromised distance and objectivity, including case examples of how to handle overimmersion or secondary posttraumatic stress syndrome and how to maintain credibility in the face of intrusive personal questions from opposing attorneys? Extensively annotated and indexed, this unique volume also features vignettes of real-life ethical dilemmas that defy clear resolution, such as the misuse of research funds, sexual misconduct, and malpractice.

Intended to foster and improve the dialogue and understanding between clinical and legal professionals, this volume is written for both expert forensic psychiatrists and the attorneys who work with them. This in-depth book is certain to raise the standards of forensic practice and become an essential reference in this complex and uniquely challenging field.

Thomas G. Gutheil, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

Robert I. Simon, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Program in Psychiatry and Law at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.