Psychiatry and the Law

Psychiatry and the Law is the sixth Volume of the Ethics International Press Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry Series. Understanding the current systems of psychology and psychiatry is profoundly important. So is exploring alternatives. The Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry Series presents solicited chapters from international experts on a wide variety of underexplored subjects. This is a series for mental health researchers, teachers, and practitioners, for parents and interested lay readers, and for anyone trying to make sense of anxiety, depression, and other emotional difficulties. Psychiatry and the Law takes a critical, wide-ranging look at the ways in which psychiatry and the law interact to violate the fundamental stated principles of both professions. One of the issues critically examined is the legitimacy of psychiatric expert testimony and whether psychiatrist and psychologist opinion evidence ever satisfies the established reliability criteria for allowing expert testimony. It likewise explores whether informed consent is ever obtained from those individuals facing the decision whether to accept or reject a proposed treatment. Other topics examined include the legitimacy of custodial institutionalization, the lawfulness of treatments like electroshock, and basic questions about how psychiatry affects the legal process and whether or not it undermines the rule of law.