This is a collection of books written by PIPATL members and other relevant books with links to each book at www.amazon.com, where they can be purchased.

Please choose a category of books to browse, or click here for a complete list of featured books.

Psychiatry and the Law

Contributors present examples of regulation gone awry and the impact of regulatory influences and special interest groups on clinical care, identifying problems in today's health care system and offering suggestions for reform. Topics include Prozac and the media, regulation of electroconvulsive therapy in California, antipsychotic medication, medical marijuana, cost containment and managed care, and the regulation of controlled substances and psychotropic drug development.

Intended to prepare practicing psychiatrists who are faced with testifying in court. Covers the basics of the legal process step-by-step, from the subpoena and deposition to the actual trial. Companion to: The Psychiatrist as Expert Witness

Practical guide to forensic psychiatry for residents and practitioners. Previous edition by co-author Thomas G. Gutheil received the APA Guttmacher Award.

Designed as the conceptual successor to The Psychiatrist as Expert Witness, c1998. Focuses on the privately retained practitioner within the civil context of America's legal system and examines forensic practice from basics to trial. Covers case preparation, fee agreements, finances, and more.

The text is an excellent reference for either the novice or seasoned practitioner encountering the ethical, clinical, and practical issues of the expert witness, as well as hazards and pitfalls inherent to this arena.

Here is a unique and practical guide to clinical risk management in the mental health field. The book combines the expertise of mental health professionals, judges, attorneys, and insurance industry experts to help the clinician provide effective treatment while reducing the risk of legal liability. Wide-ranging, clinically based, and up-to-date, this will be a welcome guide for medical and surgical practitioners as well.

This volume brings together the works of distinguished authors in the field of postformal-operational cognitive, social, and perceptual development to examine the models and methodology used to investigate postformal thought. The contributors examine both Piagetian and nonstructural models of adult cognitive development, explore the measurement and comparison of cognitive development in adults, and assess the research and theory of adult reasoning in the moral domain. A concluding chapter investigates critical evaluations of postformal research. This book, one of a series on mental health law in different states, should be required reading for every practicing mental health clinician. First in a narrative section and then in a question-and-answer format, the book covers key aspects of the law (civil commitment, guardianship, confidentiality, subpoenas, consultation, criminal issues, liability and record-keeping) that are relevant to, and affect, clinical practice. It covers these issues with thoughtfulness, elegant writing and with empathy and respect for the reader. And, it makes the law alive, vital and exciting. Reading it is like listening to a very intelligent conversation that explains how the law understands, and supports, the work we do and invites us to think about the process of meetings its standards. Although focused on Massachusetts law, I suspect that the book could also be helpful to clinicians from other areas because the issues addressed cut across state lines. The book teaches us about the law while weaving a story about the way the law interacts with, and informs, clinical practice. The book also shows us how the law has broadened the context of clinical practice to take the public welfare into account. The book teaches clinicians how to think about legal and ethical conflicts, how to approach these dilemmas in an intelligent way and how to protect ourselves from legal violations. For instance, the section on the landmark Tarasoff decision, which has affected practice in every state, covers the California decision in detail, the way it has been modified to fit mental health practice in Massachusetts and how it gets played out in actual practice. This book is an important reference work that clinicians will want to consult often as a very readable guide to ethically and legally sound practice.