Forensic Psychiatry: The Making—and Breaking—of Expert Opinion Testimony

Abstract

Expressing an expert opinion in an open courtroom or other legal proceeding as to a person's mental condition presents a number of challenges for both the forensic psychiatrist and the attorney employing the psychiatrist. Both the forensic psychiatrist and the attorney must become thoroughly educated as to what goes into the forming of a valid, unimpeachable expert psychiatric opinion. The psychiatrist must conduct a thorough investigation and examination of the person whose mental condition is at issue in a variety of criminal and civil situations. While testifying as a psychiatric expert on the witness stand in open court can be an exhilarating experience, it also opens the psychiatrist to scrutiny surpassing even that to which we subject our presidential candidates.