Forensic evaluations in psychiatry

Abstract

Forensic psychiatry is an important subspecialty of psychiatry. Forensic psychiatrists play an important role in the society in assisting the judiciary in many complicated cases. In India, forensic psychiatry work is undertaken mostly by the general psychiatrists. Forensic psychiatric assessments are often associated with an element of anxiety or fear for a young psychiatrist. The present paper aims at familiarizing the readers with forensic evaluation in various situations so that they are able to carry out the assessments in real-life situations comfortably. Various steps of forensic assessment in different situations are discussed in the background of real-life cases. Assessment areas include criminal responsibility, fitness to plead, issue of guardianship, assessment of mental status, testamentary capacity and others. The paper gives some general guidelines on forensic psychiatric assessment in practical situations in our country. The readers are advised to refer to the standard textbooks and the Indian law for further details.

Keywords: Courts; criminal responsibility; fitness to plead; forensic assessment.