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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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Emotional Damages Episode 6 Recap: Expert Witness Standards, Psychopathy and Cultural Psychiatry with Dr. Ayesha Ashai

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Forensic psychiatry plays a crucial role in both criminal and civil litigation, yet its distinctions from clinical psychiatry are often misunderstood. In this episode of Emotional Damages, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Ambarin Faizi sits down with Dr. Ayesha Ashai, a board-certified forensic psychiatrist, to explore how forensic evaluations influence legal cases, from competency assessments to criminal responsibility determinations and emotional damages claims. Dr. Ashai, a highly sought-after expert witness, has testified in high-profile criminal cases and has been featured in true crime media, including Pathological: The Lies of Joran Van der Sloot on Peacock. She shares her expertise on competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, psychopathy, and the ethics of expert witness testimony.

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Telepsychiatry Standards & Practices – Understanding & Mitigating Liability Risks

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Telemedicine and telepsychiatry have been used routinely for the past decade, but during the COVID-19 pandemic these services are needed more than ever. Telepsychiatry is being used in sub-practices including addiction counseling. Some physicians are not aware of potential missteps and are opening themselves up to liability claims.

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Sanity Evaluations: The relationship between the mental state and the criminal behavior.

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The insanity defense is a traditional affirmative defense that dates back to biblical times with more relevant application dating back to English common law. Simply defined, the insanity defense determines whether a defendant is capable of being held criminally responsible for his or her actions. How sanity is more specifically defined differs between states and in Clark v. Arizona, 548 […]

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