Psychological Assessment in South Africa

Provides a body of knowledge from a variety of medical, psychological and legal fields to enable practitioners in those fields to participate in psycholegal assessments in a standardised and informed way. This book also serves as a practical manual which lawyers, psychiatrists and social workers can use when interacting with one another.

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The practical objective of this book is to formalise and improve the standard of psycholegal assessment in South Africa, and thereby set in motion a process whereby the field of forensic psychology/psychiatry may be recognised as a specialised registered profession in South Africa. The book provides practitioners such as psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists and social workers testifying in South African courts with practical guidelines for their assessments and contributions. A manual of this type will alleviate the current situation of unreasonable expectations and poor assessments which can result when the participants in legal and juridical contexts do not understand each other's professional backgrounds and requirements. In addition to introducing legal, mental health and 'paramedical' professionals and students in these subject areas to key concepts and guidance on conducting various types of assessments, the book also discusses how to interpret clinical findings, and how to communicate these to the courts.