Abstract
In an earlier issue of this journal, I reviewed the third edition of “Psychological Evaluations for the Courts: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals and Lawyers” by Melton, Petrila, Poythress, and Slobogin (2007) which, in my opinion, represented at that time the unrivalled text on forensic psychological evaluations. I still largely maintain this view with respect to the superlative merits of the Melton et al. text but it is no longer, in my estimation, without rival. In 2011, Eric Drogin, Frank Dattilio, Robert Sadoff, and Thomas Gutheil published their own handbook and there is much within this fine text that is worthy of praise given the contribution these editors and their chapter contributors have made to the academic and practitioner community alike in the field of forensic mental health assessments.
As one might expect, the overall topic structure for a text in this field has been broken down into three parts into which various chapters have been assigned. The first main section is simply and quite logically titled “Criminal Matters” and features 12 distinct chapters that appropriately canvass the gamut of topics within this domain, including competency, criminal responsibility, and sentencing, to name but a few. Thereafter, the second main section titled “Civil Matters” logically moves into the vast array of topics encapsulated by civil forensic practices. In this section, a further 14 individual chapters are found on topics such as personal injury evaluations, child custody, and guardianship. In the third and final section, Drogin et al. highlight the clinically pragmatic insights they offer to the field by including further 4 concluding chapters which are encompassed by the title of “Forensic Practice Considerations.” In this section, invaluable observations concerning the practical operation of forensic mental health evaluations are offered. Chapter topics in this section include the assessment of malingering, transcultural considerations, and guidelines for the operation of a forensic practice.
In many respects, the topics found in all texts related to forensic mental health assessments have a certain generic commonality as determined by the parameters of the field. Consequently, the particular nuances and merits of differing books in this domain are not, in my view, so much found in what they canvass but rather in how these common topics are approached in one text as compared with another. On this latter point, Drogin et al., in my opinion, offer two notable differences in the construction of their text. First, as clearly foreshadowed by the title of the text, an integrated cross-disciplinary conceptualization is presented encapsulating the input of forensic psychiatry and forensic psychology. This I consider to be a valuable contribution in comparison with so many previous texts that appear dichotomously constituted into one professional body or the other. Second, within this cross-disciplinary model, Drogin et al. have adopted the contributions of many authors with diverse expertise in the overall composition of the text as an edited volume, rather than attempting to present their own summary of each conceivable topic. Although edited texts are sometimes disjointed in the flow of the differing themes and topics, I am pleased to note that a commendable degree of cohesion is evident in the development of this text, no doubt courtesy of the editors’ efforts.
Drogin, Dattilio, Sadoff, and Gutheil are to be commended for an invaluable and useful contribution to the field of forensic mental health as forensic psychiatrists and psychologists will derive considerable benefit from this book. It is a text that is highly recommended for practitioners and academics alike.