Writing Forensic Reports for Mental Health Professionals

Description

Despite the extensive technical literature on forensic mental health, there is a lack of practical guidebooks dedicated to generating clear and persuasive forensic mental health reports. Greenfield and Gottschalk present this practical handbook to address this critical need.

This comprehensive guide outlines the proper format for forensic reports, contains multiple examples of full and partial reports, and is organized in a user-friendly, "how-to" style to accomplish its goal. The case overviews of full criminal reports, full civil reports, and civil summaries cover important topics such as domestic violence, malpractice, personal injury, malingering, and more.

Key features:

• Full-length report samples with step-by-step guidelines explaining how each section of the report is done
• Designed to assist the novice, trainee, and seasoned forensic mental health practitioner
• Extensive commentaries and discussions following each case overview to convey how the report served to help resolve its case
• Extensive reference lists and appendices containing key terms, additional journals and periodicals, Internet resources, and assessment tools

Table of Contents

Foreword - Dickinson R. Debevoise, Sr. U.S.D.J.
Preface - Daniel P. Greenfield, MD, MPH, MS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. ELEMENTS OF THE LAW
3. FULL CRIMINAL REPORT
4. SUMMARIES OF CRIMINAL REPORTS
5. FULL CIVIL REPORT
6. SUMMARIES OF CIVIL REPORTS
7. EPILOGUE
APPENDICES
INDEX

Reviews

Ambitious in scope, stylishly written, and profoundly instructive, Writing Forensic Reports: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals is quite simply "The Gold Standard" -- the definitive and authoritative treatise on the subject. The authors have provided an invaluable treasure trove for practitioners from every mental health discipline and at every level of experience, from beginners to the cognoscenti, who strive to perfect their expert skills to produce well-reasoned, richly detailed, and meticulously crafted forensic reports. "
--Robert Lloyd Goldstein, MD, JD
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University

"Greenfield and Gottschalkhave written a text that not only provides the firm guiding hand for creating sophisticated, ethical, and competent forensic reports, but have also managed to make it accessible and relevant to all mental health professionals. Theyset the standard for authoritative, thorough investigations of psychiatric and psychological matters."
--Herman Huber, PhD
Chair, Psychology Department
College of Saint Elizabeth

"This is an extraordinarily useful volume, both for the beginning forensic practitioner, and for the experienced expert. The detailed case examples are especially informative, serving as an aspirational model for constructing and critiquing forensic reports. As a forensic psychologist with 25 years of experience, I was surprised and enriched by the wealth of ideas and information in this book."
--James S. Wulach, PhD, JD
John Jay College of Criminal Justice

"The book is important for forensic psychiatric experts and especially for those in training or in fellowship programs learning to become forensic psychiatrists....this is a book that could be used effectively in forensic psychiatric fellowship training programs throughout the country..."
--Robert L. Sadoff, MD

Too few publications benefit both mental health and legal professionals....the report writing formats and legal discussion provide the tools to enhance the expert's ethics, competence and performance. "
--Richard I. Friedman, MSW, JD
Deputy Public Advocate
Department of the Public Advocate
Division of Mental Health and Guardianship Advocacy