Engaging veterans with substance abuse disorders into a research trial: success with study branding, networking, and presence

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The focus of this paper is on the recruitment and retention strategies used for a study addressing multiple risk behaviors among veterans with alcohol or drug problems. Focused on clients in substance abuse treatment, challenges with research recruitment and retention were anticipated due to low motivation to change additional risk behaviors, frequent and abrupt changes […]

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Study Finds Gene Methylation a Marker of PTSD Vulnerability

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from Psychiatric News Alert: The Voice of the American Psychiatric Association and the Psychiatric Community This journal article may provide an important new piece to the puzzle of trying to understand PTSD vulnerability and resiliency factors. It could bring us closer to biological testing for PTSD vulnerability which could eventually be used to screen applicants for […]

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This is an excellent, current, medical legal update on PTSD and litigation. See footnote #18, reference to older article by Mark Levy MD

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http://www.a2lc.com/blog/bid/68973/360-of-ptsd-facts-vs-fiction-in-litigation?source=Blog_Email_%5b360%C2%B0%20of%20PTSD%3A%20Facts%20%5d

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Bloomberg BNA: The Use of Forensic Psychiatry in Catastrophic Injury and Multi-Party Litigation

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Michael Fox, Esq.,  a Partner at the Sedgwick Law Firm and UCSF forensic psychiatrist Mark I. Levy MD, have written this article for the December 9, 2013 issue of Bloomberg BNA discussing the role of forensic psychiatry in the assessment of emotional damages claims in catastrophic injury and multi-party litigation. bbna expert evidence dec9

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Three’s A Crowd

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Esteemed forensic psychiatrist Robert Simon, MD, published a timeless article several years ago entitled “Three’s A Crowd.” It addresses the recurring problem of (usually) plaintiff attorneys seeking to be present in the room during the defense forensic psychiatric evaluation of their client and the potentially chilling and distorting effects upon the examination that such presence […]

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The New Science of the Mind – Nobel Laureate Professor Eric R. Kandel Responds to Recent Article

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Neuroscientist and Nobel Laureate Eric R. Kandel has written a compelling op-ed article in the New York Times responding to a recent article that suggested “psychiatry is a ‘semi-science’ whose practitioners cannot base their treatment of mental disorders on the same empirical evidence as physicians who treat disorders of the body can.” Dr. Kandel’s thoughts […]

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RORSCHACH UPDATE: The Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS)

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Sarah A. Hall, Ph.D. Adult & Pediatric Forensic Neuropsychologist Oct. 28, 2013 The Rorschach Performance Assessment System, or R-PAS (Meyer, G. J., Viglione, D. J., Mihura, J. L., Erad, R. E., & Erdberg, P., 2011) provides a long needed update to the administration and scoring of the Rorschach Inkblots.  Originally assembled by the late John […]

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Infantile Amnesia – a mystery begins to be understood

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Thomas Insel, MD, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, has written in his a blog a very interesting article about new research into the nature of Infantile Amnesia – the fact that adults cannot accurately retrieve memories of events and experiences (i.e., autobiographical memory) that occurred before age 4 years. As this […]

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Court holds that anxiety from possibly getting fired is an ADA disability.

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This article by attorney Eric B. Meyer posted on the DRI (Defense Research Institute) LinkedIn page states that a federal court, remarkably, has recently held that the anxiety symptoms arising from fear of losing one’s job qualifies as a “disability” under the ADA (American’s With Disabilities Act). This certainly has relevance for forensic psychiatrists who […]

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Firearm Injuries and Death: The Cost of Shooting in the Dark

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This article by Mark L. Rosenberg, MD from Emory University in the October issue of JAMAPsychiatry discusses the need for politicians to both work aggressively on gun control legislation while taking account of gun owners constitutional rights.Download pdf of article JAMAPsychiatry Firearm Injuries –

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The Importance of Psychological Testing Evaluations of Emotional Distress Claims in Employment Litigation

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by Sarah Hall, PhD fpamed forensic neuropsychologist, Sarah Hall, PhD, explains in this comprehensive article the important role of psychological testing when conducting forensic psychiatric assessments of plaintiffs who allege emotional distress in litigation. All testing in medicine, including blood tests, imaging studies and psychological testing, merely answers a membership question: based upon the examinee’s […]

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How Did Aaron Alexis Get a Security Clearance?

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Comment by Mark Levy MD forensic psychiatrist & Medical Director at Forensic Psychiatric Associates, LP This is an excellent, comprehensive and balanced review of the behavioral issues pertaining to security clearance and how many of these were either missed or overlooked in the case of Aaron Alexis.One point I would add as a forensic psychiatrist […]

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The Bubonic Plague and the Gunman and His 12 Victims Shot and Killed at the D.C. Navy Yard

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According to the New York Times, 34 year old heavily armed Aaron Alexis shot and killed 12 people working at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard this morning, injuring others. As will happen once again, national hand-wringing ritual follows, trying to make “sense out” of the irrational. Pundits, including psychiatrists, will be asked to speculate on […]

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The New Science of Mind

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The 2000 Nobel Laureate in Physiology & Medicine, Eric Kandell, MD, responded in an Op Ed piece in the New York Times to columnist David Brooks’ ignorantly referring to modern day psychiatry as a “semi-science.”  Although the practice of medicine is, and has always been since Hippocrates’ time, a mixture of art and science, the […]

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Ethics & Confidentiality

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David Y. Kan, MD, MRO gave this Powerpoint slide presentation on “Ethics & Confidentiality” at the California Society of Addiction Medicine conference on October 29, 2010. Dr. Kan is a Board Certified Forensic Psychiatrist with additional specialty expertise in addiction medicine and substance abuse. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSF School […]

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Stimulants, Psychosis & Treatment

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David Y. Kan, MD, discusses the topics of “Stimulants, Psychosis & Treatment” in a Powerpoint slide presentation. Dr. Kan is anAssistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCSF School of Medicine and is also the Medical Director of the ORT Clinic, San Francisco VA Hospital.

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Castro’s statement: Classic signs of a narcissistic sociopath, experts say

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Forensic Psychiatrist Mark Levy MD was interviewed by NBC news concerning serial kidnapper and sexual predator, Ariel Castro’s, rambling statement in Court on August 5, 2013. By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News August 5, 2013, 11:22 am NBCNews.com Ariel Castro’s rambling 20-minute statement in court Thursday, in which he repeatedly said, “I am not […]

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Asiana Airline Crash at SFO & Recovery of Emotional Damages Under Montreal Convention

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The Montreal Convention, the successor international treaty to the Warsaw Convention, governs damages claims from injury on international carrier flights. Passengers who suffer severe emotional distress from an aircraft disaster cannot claim damages consisting of emotional injury alone – the psychological injury must “flow through” a physical injury. Ironically, relatives or the estate of a […]

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American Psychiatric Association Amicus Briefs

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Amicus Briefs Amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs are approved by the Board of Trustees and present to the court the views of the American Psychiatric Association on matters of mental health, patient care, psychiatric practice, and other forensic issues. Older briefs are being added as library staff time permits. 2012   Delling v. […]

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Doyle v. Caldwell (California Sixth Appellate Court)

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Doyle v Caldwell Balancing the discovery rights of the Defendant against the privacy rights of the Plaintiff, California’s Sixth Appellate Court ruled, in an employment law suit, that the Defendant, Caldwell, could not compel the Plaintiff, Cindy Doyle, to undergo a forensic psychiatric independent medical examination (even thought she put her mental status at issue) […]

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CHOOSING A FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIC EXPERT: The Difference between Treating Clinicians and Forensic Psychiatric Experts

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San Francisco Attorney Magazine, summer 2012. In this article Dr. Levy compares and contrasts the different Missions, Methods and Ethical Duties of Forensic Psychiatric (and Psychological) Experts with Treating Clinicians.

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California Society of Addiction 2011 State of the Art Conference

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State of the Art Course To Meet October 12th -15th, Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Long Beach, California This is a link to the California Society of Addiction Medicine 2011 State of the Art Conference. fpamed forensic psychiatrist and addiction specialist, David Y. Kan, MD, is the conference chair. http://www.associationinternet.com/csam/csam.html The Conference will be featuring some of the heaviest hitters […]

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Assessing Emotional Damages in Multi-Plaintiff Litigation

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Assessing Emotional Damages

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Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology – What We Do

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Our primary skill is explaining complex medical and behavioral information in a readily understood and accurate manner. In the legal arena, as in our clinical practices, teaching, and scholarship, clear communication is our central goal. We reach our opinions and offer testimony based on evidence, not simply our authority. Integrating the data from medical records, […]

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