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The Cost of Unseen Suffering: Concealed Suffering and Suicidality

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Often times, mental health symptoms are underrecognized and misunderstood. Forensic psychiatrists use careful evaluation methods to examine mental health symptoms as a complex puzzle that is composed of various biological, developmental, social, and psychological factors. These factors can affect the way an individual adapts to stress, both in terms of their emotions and their behavior. When we analyze a suicide from a forensic perspective, we seek to understand what happened—factually, psychologically, and systemically.

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The Role of the Child Psychiatrist in Court Cases Involving Child Victims of Sexual Assault

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Many jails and prisons in the United States do not have enough mental health professionals (MHPs) to meet the mental health needs of the people incarcerated in these facilities. This article examines strategies used to address MHP shortages in U.S. jails and prisons, including compensation incentives, telemental health services, interdisciplinary health care, flexible work schedules, and training rotations in correctional settings. These measures may help alleviate some of the shortages of MHPs in correctional facilities; however, these shortages will likely persist without broader policy reforms that decrease the size of U.S. correctional pop- ulations or increase the number of MHPs across the country.

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Addressing Shortages of Mental Health Professionals in U.S. Jails and Prisons

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Many jails and prisons in the United States do not have enough mental health professionals (MHPs) to meet the mental health needs of the people incarcerated in these facilities. This article examines strategies used to address MHP shortages in U.S. jails and prisons, including compensation incentives, telemental health services, interdisciplinary health care, flexible work schedules, and training rotations in correctional settings. These measures may help alleviate some of the shortages of MHPs in correctional facilities; however, these shortages will likely persist without broader policy reforms that decrease the size of U.S. correctional pop- ulations or increase the number of MHPs across the country.

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BERKELEY: BART takes steps to prevent suicides on tracks

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Forensic psychiatrist Mark Levy MD was recently interviewed by a San Francisco Fox News affiliate KTVU reporter, Rob Ross, to comment on a new plan by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) System to begin a suicide prevention program within BART stations where there have been a number of suicides recently. The interview can be […]

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Co-pilot in Germanwings Crash Alleged to Have Hidden Mental Illness from Employer

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Mark I Levy MD Forensic Psychiatrist Medical Director Forensic Psychiatric Associates, LP Asst. Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF School of Medicine According to a March 28, 2015 article in the New York Times, the co-pilot who locked the pilot out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed a German Wings aircraft flying from Spain to Germany, killing […]

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Despite Federal Law, Some Insurance Exchange Plans Offer Unequal Coveragge for Mental Healt

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According to an article in Medical Press dated March 3, 2015, One-quarter of the health plans being sold on health insurance exchanges set up through the Affordable Care Act offer benefits that appear to violate a federal law requiring equal benefits for general medical and mental health care, according to new research led by the […]

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California Report Slams Kaiser Permanente for Long Delays for Mental Health Care

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from the American Psychiatric Association headlines February 25, 2015 Leading The News California Report Slams Kaiser Permanente For Long Delays For Mental Health Care Treatment. The Los Angeles Times (2/25, Pfeifer, Terhune) reports that in a report released Feb. 24, the California Department of Managed Health Care “slammed HMO giant Kaiser Permanente for causing mental […]

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CONSUMER GUIDE AND Scorecard Health Insurance Coverage in California for Substance Use Disorders & Mental Health

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fpamed Forensic Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine specialist, David Y. Kan, MD, an officer of the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM), has developed a tool to assist consumers to evaluate and compare the addiction and mental health treatment benefit features of the major health insurance plans on sale to the public in California. CSAM is […]

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