Psychiatry and the Law: Basic Principles

This book is designed to help new psychiatrists and other medical professionals confront the complicated legal and ethical issues that arise at the intersection of the mental health and judicial systems. The law provides the boundaries in which clinical care operates. Appreciating these boundaries is particularly important when working with individuals whose rights may already be curtailed (forensic settings, for example). Understanding how psychiatry and the law interface provides students and trainees with a foundation for building their skills and attitudes through training and beyond. This text can guide or supplement education on the legal regulation of psychiatry, the use of psychiatry to answer legal questions, and the treatment of individuals with criminal justice involvement.

In the second edition of this text, the editors have updated several chapters with new information and added chapters covering topics not addressed in the first edition. Each chapter begins with a clinical case vignette that brings the topic to life through a clinical encounter, the majority of which are based on landmark legal cases that set a historical precedent. The text presents details of the legal case, historical significance, and the precedent it set before discussing the core principles of the subject area. Each chapter reviews the existing literature and reinforces the most salient points. Topics include risk assessment, substance misuse and the law, legal issues within child and adolescent psychiatry, involuntary medication considerations, and other challenges that are often not sufficiently addressed in training.

Psychiatry and the Law: Basic Principles covers a wide range of topics that would be suitable for use as the basis of a course in forensic psychiatry for psychiatry residents and is an excellent resource for new psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, students, and other professionals navigating medical and legal boundaries in clinical practice.