fpamed News

An Overview of the Forensic Neuropsychologist

Although more courts are turning to an expert witness in psychology and forensics to evaluate defendants and plaintiffs in court cases, many people do not understand the role of the forensic neuropsychologist in legal matters. In cases where a traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs as the result of a fall, traffic accident or being struck, […]

Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders

Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders Too often, people do not even realize what their civil rights are, much less when they have been violated. Although your civil rights include those against being discriminated against for your race, color, national origin, sex, religion or a disability, they also include your right to vote, to […]

Warning: Antidepressants May Cause Bank Robbery

This article, written by forensic psychiatrist James L. Knoll, IV MD, and published in Psychiatric Times volume 30 November 2013, makes a significant contribution, through tongue in check, to laying to rest the false conclusion that antidepressant medication in general and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in particular cause aggressive behavior or even suicide. He […]

Is This “Parity” for Mental Health Coverage? Shortage of Psychiatric Beds Preceded State Senator’s Stabbing

Is discharging an acutely disturbed young man to the street, because there were insufficient beds in Western Virginia, “parity” for psychiatric illness treatment under the law? Would a hospital emergency room release to the street someone who came in with a life-threatening medical condition, say a heart attack? Yet this is done routinely with emergency […]

Key Cases Occupy Intersection Between Psychiatry & Law

This article form July 2010 discusses two US Supreme Court Cases that once again looked ambivalently at the issue capital punishment, narrowing the circumstances under which it can be invoked, upholding the role on forensic psychiatric expert opinion in such deliberations while failing to do away entirely with this ultimate and controversial form of punishment. […]

Why Psychiatric Experts Matter in Cases of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) is diagnosed in nearly two million people each year as a result of falls, traffic accidents, being struck by various objects, and assaults. This type of injury is categorized as neurologic and is treated by medical specialists called neurologists. While these specially trained physicians are experts at treating the physical component […]

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers?

Mark I. Levy, M.D. The reasons that companies request fitness for duty exams for employees are to ensure that they have adequately recovered from a disability or to evaluate the reasons that the employee isn’t meeting the level of performance required in their position. Determining when to evaluate an employee’s job fitness can be a […]

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

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 […]

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers?

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers? The reasons that companies request fitness for duty exams for employees are to ensure that they have adequately recovered from a disability or to evaluate the reasons that the employee isn’t meeting the level of performance required in their position. Determining when to evaluate an […]

Forensic Psychiatric Assessments for Multi-Plaintiff Mass Tort Claims

A tort is a civil wrong that a person commits, resulting in injury to another person. Mass torts are lawsuits where the defendant, plaintiff, or both are a group of people, instead of a single individual. The role of forensic psychiatrists in these cases is to evaluate the members of groups who are involved in […]

Even the Playing Field in Child Custody with a Forensic Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist

The end of a marriage is a difficult time for most people. When there is also the issue of child custody, emotions and tensions run high. The person that you have been married to and shared your life with can suddenly seem like a total stranger. It may seem that your spouse has all of […]

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

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 […]

Infantile Amnesia – a mystery begins to be understood

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 […]

The Value of Forensic Psychiatry in Child Custody

The issue of custody is a difficult one for everyone involved. The decision about who will care for children, and to make decisions that will affect their current lives, will have a distinct impact on their entire life. A forensic psychiatrist often has a lot of weight in the final decision, because of their expertise […]

The Difference between Forensic Psychiatrists and Forensic Psychologists

The Difference between Forensic Psychiatrists and Forensic Psychologists Many people wonder what the difference is between a forensic psychiatrist and a forensic psychologist.  Psychiatrists are physicians who have received extensive training in the areas of mental disorders, their diagnosis and their treatment. Like other kinds of physicians, they can perform laboratory tests and prescribe medications […]

The Role of Forensic Psychiatry in Probate Law

While many people know the role forensic psychiatry can play in criminal cases, many are surprised to learn that it plays an important role in probate as well. Often, when an individual leaves behind a will, there may be questions about whether they were of sound mind at the time the will was written. The […]

Benefits of Forensic Psychiatry in Court

Benefits of Forensic Psychiatry in Court Just as other branches of the discipline of forensics have grown significantly in importance over the last few decades, forensic psychiatry has also come to the forefront as an important form of testimony in the courtroom. Expert witness psychology has also grown increasingly important for prosecutors and defense attorneys […]

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

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 […]

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

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 –

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

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 […]

How Did Aaron Alexis Get a Security Clearance?

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 […]

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

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 […]

The New Science of Mind

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 […]

Ethics & Confidentiality

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 […]

Stimulants, Psychosis & Treatment

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.