¶ … Forensic and Clinical Roles and Assessment
While psychologists and psychiatrists may engage in both clinical and forensic practice, it important to recognize that clinical and forensic practice are distinct areas of practice. This means that the role of the forensic and clinical practitioner differs in several ways: "who the client of the psychologist is the nature of the relationship between the psychologist and the individual being evaluated, and the psychologist's approach to the material provided by the individual" (Packer, 2008). Moreover, it also means that the professional assesses the individual differently. These differences include: the purpose of the assessment, the goal of the intervention, and psycho-legal vs. psychological assessment. While the differences may seem clear, the reality is that even forensic evaluations can lead to the establishment of the type of relationships that develop in clinical practice, making it difficult for health care professionals and for their clients to differentiate between clinical and forensic approaches. As a result it is important to realize that even if therapists are competent at providing forensic examination and forensic examiners are competent at providing therapy, they should not "provide both services to the same individual. Each role requires asking substantially differing questions, and each requires an approach that is fundamentally in conflict with, and interferes with, performance of the other task" (Greenberg & Shuman, 2007).
One of the major differences in the forensic and clinical role is who the client is. This is a broad category that covers how the client and the psychologist met, what brought the client in for services, and what the client expects from the psychologist. The second major difference in the forensic and clinical role is the nature of the relationship between the psychologist and the individual being evaluated. A patient seeks out a clinical psychologist for treatment, while forensic psychologists are asked to assess an individual for a legal purpose. "Clinical, ethical, and legal concerns arise when the treating expert offers psycholegal assessment -- an assessment for which the treating expert does not have adequate professional basis, for which there are inherent role conflicts, and for which there will almost certainly be negative implications for continued therapy" (Greenberg & Shuman, 1997). The third major difference in the forensic and clinical role is...
Clinical Psychology Mental health is an essential part of overall health. The Surgeon General's report on mental health in 1999 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999) and the 2001 supplement Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001) both highlighted mental health as a critical health aspect affecting a broad range of individuals today. Current paper is focused at exploring the concept of
Forensic Assessment In "The role of the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide and Historical, Clinical, Risk- 20 in U.S. courts: A case law survey," Vitacco et al. discuss the use of the psychological forensic assessment in predicting future dangerousness. The authors are very critical of the use of psychological assessments for these purposes because of their belief, which is affirmed by investigation into case law, that psychologists often get their predictions
Certainly, it must be stated that more study is needed and worth pursuing in this diagnostic method in forensics. References Bisset, R. et al. (2002) Postmortem examinations using magnetic resonance imaging: four-year review of a working service BMJ 2002;324:1423-1424 (15 June) Online available: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/324/7351/1423 Post Mortem Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (2005) http://www.forensicmed.co.uk/developments.htm Alderstein M.E., Peringa J., van der Hulst V.P.M, Blaauwgeers H.L.G., van Lith J.M.M. (2003), 'Perinatal mortality: clinical value of post-mortem magnetic
133). This informal power is quite significant when it comes to patient decisions and as such doctors need to appreciate and understand this power nurses wield. Due to the unique information nurses have about patients, nurses have considerable decision-making responsibilities concerning patients. For this reason, many medical schools have implemented programs, in their curriculum, to teach medical student how important it is to listen to the advice of their nurses.
The participants aren't given the right to access the records of forensic scientists. The consent of the concerned party is needed first. A fee is charged for recording keeping purposes. Accessing the third party evidence requires approval of the attorney and concerned party. The forensic professionals should be able to protect the identity of the confidential individuals and present the information in a balanced manner. The information concerned is of importance
4, para.2). Therefore, the presence of an underlying mental illness that did not render a defendant unable to appreciate that he was committing a crime or compel him to commit it, may still be sufficient to mitigate the crime. Furthermore, a lack of mental ability that does not rise to the level of mental retardation may be introduced to mitigate the crime. Therefore, the forensic psychologist needs to be able
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