Lawyers frequently encounter clients and/or cases of bizarre behavior, mental illness, substance abuse, psychopathy, sexual offenses, learning disorders, birth defects, and other behavioral and emotional issues. Often they are ill-prepared to understand the nature of the psychiatric report, how the psychiatric assessment was structured, and how to best utilize and challenge these reports in court.Forensic Psychiatry: A Lawyer’s Guide provides legal professionals the tools to identify mentally ill clients and help them navigate through the psychiatric information and language in reports and testimony. Topics include why a forensic psychiatrist is necessary, applications of psychiatry to law, various psychiatric disorders, and utilizing the expert witness.

• A user-friendly roadmap to psychiatry for the non-psychiatrist—covers why you need a forensic psychiatrist and the applications of psychiatry to law
• Provides coverage of the mental status examination, common psychiatric diagnoses, treatable disorders versus brain damage, medical problems masquerading as mental illness, and much more
• Includes a full glossary of psychiatric terms as an additional easy reference guide