Psychiatry on Trial

This work looks at psychiatric testimony and examines the validity of what forensic psychiatrists do. Using depostions from cases and the author's experiences, it discusses the problem of misinformed professionals, appropriate testimony and legal principles that help distinguish good testimony.

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In some areas of the law, psychiatrists have become as much a part of the legal landscape as lawyers and litigants. Psychiatrists seem to have answers for everything, and often their speculations defy common sense and garner criticism from both the medical and legal communities. In this work, the author takes a close look at psychiatric testimony and examines the validity of what forensic psychiatrists do. Using depositions from actual cases and drawing from his own experiences, the author discusses the problem of misinformed professionals, appropriate and inappropriate testimony, and the legal principles that help distinguish good testimony from bad testimony. Also covered is a wide variety of psychiatric and legal issues, from worker's compensation and murder to child abuse and repressed memory to malpractice and sexual harassment.