Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals


Book Description

Get crucial ethical and clinical knowledge as it relates to the legal system Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: in Forensic Settings comprehensively focuses on the integration of ethical, legal, and clinical issues for practicing mental health professionals dealing with legal processes in forensic settings. This unique text is organized around the most current ethical and legal standards as defined by the mental health professionals of psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy, and psychiatry. Respected well-known authorities with diverse backgrounds, expertise, and professional experience offer a far-reaching discussion of ethical and legal issues important for every mental health professional to know. Practicing clinicians increasingly find themselves needing to deal with the legal system about a multitude of issues. Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: in Forensic Settings not only presents mental health professionals, but also attorneys who defend mental health professionals providing legal and ethical discussions of importance to the field. This powerful resource provides up-to-date crucial knowledge for graduate students and clinicians alike. The final book in the three volume series will focus on special populations/special treatment modalities. Topics in Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: in Forensic Settings include: the discovery process depositions personal injury evaluations various types of witness preparation for court testimony psychological evaluations juvenile court dependency forensic evaluations dealing with litigation with civil lawsuits tests that relate to false memories of trauma APA’s Ethics Committee process and State Ethics Committees processes Ethical and Legal Issues for Mental Health Professionals: in Forensic Settings is an essential text for all mental health professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, therapists, and graduate students in mental health and related fields.




Legal Issues in Mental Health Care


Book Description

I. OVERVIEW Legal Issues in Mental HeaIth Care is aimed at the mental health clinician who provides services on either an inpatient or an outpatient basis. It is written for psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other therapists to help them understand and manage legal issues in their daily practice. The issues covered apply to therapists who work for an agency or hospital as weil as those who work independently. The book is meant to serve as a handbook, but it also provides a quick resource as legal questions arise which are related to the obligations of the therapist. It ad dresses the legal issues that confront the clinician. It is not aimed at the clinicianwho specializes in forensie mental health issues, because the information provided does not reach that level of detail or sophistication. Nor is it aimed at the scholar, because our goal is to provide practical information in a clear and concise format. Wehave not addressed the wide array of laws protecting the mentally disabled from discrirnina tion-most notably, the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)and the Fair Housing Act. Most states also have laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, services, and housing. These issues are beyond the scope of this book because we are address ing the legal issues that arise in providing care, rather than the rights of mentally disabled persons. 11. ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK The book consists of eleven chapters and a Glossary of Legal Terms.




Mental Health, Legal Capacity, and Human Rights


Book Description

Provides practical solutions for ending coercion in mental health care and realizing the universal right to legal capacity.




Ethical Issues in Mental Health


Book Description

Why write another book on ethics? As practitioners we are involved both in the design and delivery of services to people with mental health problems. In common with all other professionals, our work has led to the experience of ethical dilemmas: typically, these have involved major confrontations, either with our col leagues or our consciences. This book, however, is not limited to a discussion of such major themes. Rather, we have tried to use a broader canvas: ethics, in our view, is really about the judgement of right and wrong in ordinary, everyday life. Ethics are highly personal: we fashion our own personal code from our experi ence of others, and from the 'tests' which bring meaning to our lives. Such experiences shape our individual values. We bring these codes and values to our work. We are not always aware of their influence in our dealings with people. Although we may not always be aware of it, all our actions pose an ethical question. Given that our work involves us in helping others to live ordinary, satisfying lives, this challenge heightens the intensity of our ethical dilemmas. This is most evident where our personal code conflicts with the implicit code of the health setting.




Mental Health Law


Book Description

Examining the legal structure of the mental health system, this book explains the legal principles. It places them in the context of their practical application, the realities of patient life, and the complexities of organising care. This edition gives an analysis of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005 and the Draft Mental Health Bill.




Psychiatry


Book Description




Family Guide to Mental Illness and the Law


Book Description

Family Guide to Mental Illness and the Law offers the nuts-and-bolts legal information and problem-solving steps families need. This accessible resource explains how common legal issues uniquely impact people with various forms of mental illness and what family members can do to help.




Mental Health Law in a Nutshell


Book Description

Mental illness and intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation) impact 20% of Americans, and have enormous personal, legal, and policy implications for patients, families, and society. This Nutshell introduces you to the broad range of criminal and civil issues in mental health law, including diagnosis of mental illness; expert testimony on mental health issues; civil commitment; competence to stand trial; the insanity defense; various competencies; ethical/legal issues facing mental health professionals, including informed consent, confidentiality, privilege, and malpractice; discrimination against persons with mental illness; financial and medical benefits for disabled persons.




Legal Issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health


Book Description

As a psychotherapist, what do you need to know about the law? How does the legal system support (or fail to support) your work or the delivery of mental health services generally? What can you do to make use of the law and the legal system to improve your practice and to protect yourself? Filling a significant gap in the social work and other psychotherapeutic literature, Legal Issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health presents clearly and comprehensively what mental health and other direct practice professionals need to know to respond to the legal issues that surround practice. This volume covers a wide range of topics, including providing testimony, responding to subpoenas, dealing with an attorney, influencing the legal system, and understanding the legal side of the business of psychotherapy. The author also discusses various direct practice and human service issues, incorporating some of the everyday legal issues these professionals encounter and using case material. The book educates counselors and clinicians on the function of the law in their professional lives. Through cases and case vignettes, the author illustrates the legal processes relevant to cliniciansÆ professional lives, and suggests "alternative behaviors for clinicians that would satisfy legal requirements, yet remain within sound practice." Helping to demystify the legal system, Legal Issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health will allow professionals and students in social work, human services, family studies, counseling, clinical psychology, pastoral counseling and psychotherapy a better understanding of the law.




Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions


Book Description

Each year, more than 33 million Americans receive health care for mental or substance-use conditions, or both. Together, mental and substance-use illnesses are the leading cause of death and disability for women, the highest for men ages 15-44, and the second highest for all men. Effective treatments exist, but services are frequently fragmented and, as with general health care, there are barriers that prevent many from receiving these treatments as designed or at all. The consequences of this are seriousâ€"for these individuals and their families; their employers and the workforce; for the nation's economy; as well as the education, welfare, and justice systems. Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions examines the distinctive characteristics of health care for mental and substance-use conditions, including payment, benefit coverage, and regulatory issues, as well as health care organization and delivery issues. This new volume in the Quality Chasm series puts forth an agenda for improving the quality of this care based on this analysis. Patients and their families, primary health care providers, specialty mental health and substance-use treatment providers, health care organizations, health plans, purchasers of group health care, and all involved in health care for mental and substanceâ€"use conditions will benefit from this guide to achieving better care.