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Forensic Psychiatry

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Tasman’s Psychiatry

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Abstract

Forensic psychiatry is an exciting specialty of psychiatry. It takes care of chronic, highly complicated psychiatric patients with problems in various domains, e.g., diagnostic comorbidity, and circumstantial risks. In this chapter, we will provide a brief overview of the most important issues in forensic psychiatry. First, we define forensic psychiatry. Next, key themes in the practice of forensic psychiatry are described. Important data about the relationship between psychiatric disorders and offending are shown. Several steps in the assessment of forensic psychiatry are highlighted: the process, information gathering, diagnosis, formulation, identification of risk factors, and risk assessment and risk management. Psychological and biological treatment, therapeutic milieu, therapeutic use of security, and multidisciplinary and multiagency working are also briefly reviewed. Principles of treatment in various settings, such as community treatment, secure forensic psychiatric hospitals, and prison treatment, are mentioned as well. Finally, some special populations are described, such as sex offenders, female offenders, intellectually disabled offenders, stalkers, older offenders, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender inmates. The issue of cultural competence and the situation in low- and middle-income countries are also considered.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute (CAPRI), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Kris Goethals

  2. University Forensic Centre (UFC), Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium

    Kris Goethals

Authors
  1. Kris Goethals
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Correspondence to Kris Goethals .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Allan Tasman

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Cent, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Michelle B. Riba

  3. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Oakland, CA, USA

    Renato D. Alarcón

  4. Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA

    César A. Alfonso

  5. Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Shigenobu Kanba

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

    David M. Ndetei

  7. Malaysian Research Inst on Ageing, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

    Chee H. Ng

  8. Department of Psychiatry, University of Munich, München, Bayern, Germany

    Thomas G. Schulze

  9. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dusica Lecic-Tosevski

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Naples, Italy

    Andrea Fiorillo

  2. Okasha Institute of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Tarek Okasha

  3. Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Marianne Kastrup

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, USA

    Jack Drescher

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Goethals, K. (2023). Forensic Psychiatry. In: Tasman, A., et al. Tasman’s Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42825-9_121-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42825-9_121-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-42825-9

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