Forensic Psychiatry

• Part I: Introduction to the handbook


• 1: Introduction to the handbook


• Part II: Clinical forensic psychiatry


• 2: Clinical and social aspects of crime


• 3: Mental disorders in forensic psychiatry


• 4: Assessment in forensic psychiatry


• 5: Risk assessment


• 6: Treatment


• 7: Risk management


• 8: Forensic psychiatric services


• Part III: The ethics of forensic psychiatry


• 9: Ethical decision making


• 10: Professional duties and personal integrity


• 11: Conflicting ethical values


• 12: Clinical matters raising ethical issues


• Part IV: Law relevant to psychiatry


• 13: The interface between psychiatry and law


• 14: Legal systems


• 15: Criminal law


• 16: Mental health and mental capacity law


• 17: Civil law


• Part V: Psychiatry within the legal system


• 18: The criminal justice system


• 19: Legal tests relevant to psychiatry


• 20: The psychiatrist in court


• 21: Applied ethics and testimony


• 22: Providing reports


• 23: Giving evidence


• Part VI: Appendices


• A: Appendices

Nigel Eastman was Emeritus Professor of Law and Ethics in Psychiatry at St George's, University of London, UK and Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, UK. He died unexpectedly in February 2022, while this work was still in press. Prof. Eastman was a passionate and dedicated educator, and his publications are a testimony to that passion, and the culmination of a lifetime of study, clinical practice and research. This book would not exist without him and it is with both sadness and respect that we, his co- authors and editors, dedicate this book to him, as a posthumous thank you for the enthusiasm, intellect and generosity that made it possible.

Gwen Adshead is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital, West London NHS Trust, Southall, UK.

Simone Fox is a Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, UK.

Richard Latham is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at East London NHS Foundation Trust, UK.


Seán Whyte is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at South-West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, UK and a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.

Hannah Kate Williams is a Specialty Registrar in Forensic Psychiatry & Medical Psychotherapy at South-West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, UK.

Review from previous edition A careful reading of [Forensic Psychiatry's] content will enable the practitioner to progress unscathed through this minefield of conflicting paradigms and constructs. Encyclopaedic in its scope, thorough and fair-minded in its analysis, it sets the standard against which other texts in its field will be judged in the future.
Connor Duggan, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Mental Health, University of Nottingham