This book provides an overview of forensic psychiatry, focusing on the provision of care in Europe as well as the legal and ethical challenges posed by long-term stays in forensic settings. Forensic psychiatric services provide care and treatment for mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) in secure in-patient facilities as well as in the community. These services are high-cost/low-volume services; they pose significant restrictions on patients and hence raise considerable ethical challenges. There is no agreed-upon standard for length of stay (LoS) in secure settings and patients’ detainment periods vary considerably across countries and even within the same jurisdiction. Thus far, little research has been conducted to identify factors associated with length of stay; consequently, it remains unclear how services should be configured to meet the needs of this patient group. This volume fills some of those gaps. Furthermore, it presents new research on factors associated with length of stay, both patient-related and organisational. Various approaches to the provision of care for long-term patients in different countries are explored, including a few best practise examples in this specific area of psychiatry. The book also addresses the perspective of those working in forensic care by reviewing quality-of-life research and interviews with patients. The authors of this volume come from a range of professional backgrounds, ensuring a certain breadth and depth in the topic discussion, and even includes patients themselves as (co-)authors.

“Mikita Brottman is one of today’s finest practitioners of nonfiction.” —The New York Times Book Review Critically acclaimed author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman offers literary true crime writing at its best, taking us into the life of a murderer after his conviction—when most stories end but the defendant's life goes on. On February 21, 1992, 22-year-old Brian Bechtold walked into a police station in Port St. Joe, Florida and confessed that he’d shot and killed his parents in their family home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said he’d been possessed by the devil. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and ruled “not criminally responsible” for the murders on grounds of insanity. But after the trial, where do the "criminally insane" go? Brottman reveals Brian's inner life leading up to the murder, as well as his complicated afterlife in a maximum security psychiatric hospital, where he is neither imprisoned nor free. During his 27 years at the hospital, Brian has tried to escape and been shot by police, and has witnessed three patient-on-patient murders. He’s experienced the drugging of patients beyond recognition, a sadistic system of rewards and punishments, and the short-lived reign of a crazed psychiatrist-turned-stalker. In the tradition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Couple Found Slain is an insider’s account of life in the underworld of forensic psych wards in America and the forgotten lives of those held there, often indefinitely.

Secure Recovery is the first text to tackle the challenge of recovery-oriented mental health care in forensic services and prison-based therapeutic communities in the UK. Recovery as an emergent paradigm in the field of mental health presents a challenge to all services to embrace a new clinical philosophy, but nowhere are the implications more profound than in services that are designed to meet the needs of mentally disordered and personality-disordered offenders, both men and women. The chapters collected together in this book represent a cross-section of experiences in high, medium and low secure services and prison-based therapeutic communities in England and Scotland that have begun to implement a recovery orientation to the rehabilitation of offenders with mental health needs. Secure Recovery sets out a road map of guiding principles, practical and evidence-based strategies for promoting service user participation in their care and treatment and further demonstrates the adaption of traditional treatment approaches, and the development of innovations in rehabilitation, as well as tackling training for staff teams, and the evaluation of service delivery. This book provides a valuable resource and an inspiration to practitioners working across forensic mental health settings, increasing understanding of contemporary challenges and suggesting ways of moving forward.

Based on extensive research, The Tidal Model charts the development of this model of care, outlining its theoretical basis and including clinical examples to show the benefits of encouraging the client's greater involvement in their treatment.

This textbook, one of the first, provides a comprehensive review of the relationship between psychiatry and legal medicine in the older population. Sections reviewing evaluation, civil and criminal topics, and numerous other areas such as risk management, will help physicians, attorneys, and other professionals in their work with the elderly.

A new edition of a highly successful, award winning textbook for trainee psychiatrists, covering in one volume all the subjects required for the new MRCPsych and similar exams. Written in a highly engaging manner, it will also prove invaluable to qualified psychiatrists who need to keep up-to-date with the latest developments, as well as clinical psychologists, general practitioners, psychiatric nurses and senior medical students Concise yet comprehensive, Core Psychiatry relfects the latest developments in the curriculum plus all that is new and essential in clinical practice and the sciences that underpin it. It includes new information on the new Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act as well as enhanced sections on psychopharmacology, old age psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry and rehabilitation. The book also makes refernce to the latest NICE guidelines and includes new sections on sleep medicine and trauma psychiatry. New edition of a popular MRCPsych curriculum based text Previous edition ‘Highly Commended’ (Mental Health category) in the BMA Awards 2005 Contains useful summary boxes, lists and key points to make last minute learning easy Comprehensive and authoritative resource written by contributors to ensure complete accuracy and currency of specialist information Chapters prepared by specialists working in conjunction with trainees – content totally up-to-date and jointly written by authors who have recently been in the exam situation Contains the latest findings in sleep medicine and trauma psychiatry Expanded section on psychology – including social psychology – to reflect the latest MRCPych examination format Text updated in full to reflect the new Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act Relevant chapters now contain a ‘skills and competency’ section to reflect changes in MRCPsych curriculum Updating and amendments to improve coverage of old age psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry and rehabilitation Contains reference to the latest NICE guidelines in boxes and tables Enhanced discussion of the use of the best current management options, both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic, the latter including CBT, DBT, EMDR and psychodynamic group, couple and family therapy.