Hidden Agendas at the Law-psychiatry Interface

Abstract

Many of the key concepts in the ongoing dialogue between legal and mental-health professionals have become accepted over the years, while each side continues to define them differently without making explicit the significant differences in definition. Although the differences in meaning are generally clear to their respective advocates, they are often obscure to the decision-makers who are called upon to arbitrate between the two sides. The author discusses a number of such hidden agendas and argues that they need to be brought into the open so that all the issues can be discussed directly.