Psychiatry and the Law

This study sets out to describe the law as it relates to the understanding, management and treatment of psychiatric disorders, and to provide a critical assessment of the less-than-satisfactory interaction between psychiatry and the law. It explores the interaction, particularly with reference to criminal responsibility or "insanity", psychiatric disorder as a consequence of the wrongful conduct of another, whether in negligence or trespass, testamentary capacity and civil committal. The work describes, in non-technical terms, the broad range of psychiatric conditions and disorders encountered by clinicians, including present symptoms, natural history, diagnostic criteria and features, treatment, and management of outcome. In particular, it deals with those most frequently encountered by lawyers in practice.
 
This study sets out to describe the law as it relates to the understanding, management and treatment of psychiatric disorders, and to provide a critical assessment of the less-than-satisfactory interaction between psychiatry and the law. It explores the interaction, particularly with reference to criminal responsibility or "insanity", psychiatric disorder as a consequence of the wrongful conduct of another, whether in negligence or trespass, testamentary capacity and civil committal. The work describes, in non-technical terms, the broad range of psychiatric conditions and disorders encountered by clinicians, including present symptoms, natural history, diagnostic criteria and features, treatment, and management of outcome. In particular, it deals with those most frequently encountered by lawyers in practice.