Daniel W. Shuman

Liza Gold

As many as one in four adults in the workforce will suffer from psychiatric illness in a given year. Such illness can have serious consequences -- job loss, lawsuits, workplace violence—yet the effects of mental health issues on job functioning are rarely covered in clinical training. In addition, clinicians are often asked to provide opinions on an employee’s fitness for work or an evaluation for disability benefits, only to find themselves embroiled in complex legal and administrative conflicts. A unique collaboration between a renowned clinical professor of psychiatry and a noted legal expert, Evaluating Mental Health Disability in the Workplace approaches the topic from two distinct areas: the legal context and issues relevant to disability and disability-related evaluations, and the interplay of factors in the relationship between work and psychiatric illness. From this dual perspective, the authors advocate for higher professional standards ensuring that employers, evaluees, or third parties are provided with the most reliable information. Key features of the book: A robust assessment model of psychological disability in the workplace Practice guidelines for conducting workplace mental health disability evaluations Legal and ethical aspects of employment evaluations, especially as they differ from clinical procedure Examination of the process of psychiatric disability development Issues specific to evaluations for Social Security, Workers’ Compensation, and other disability benefit programs Review of relevant administrative and case law. As an introduction to these complex issues or for the further improvement of evaluation skills, Evaluating Mental Health Disability in the Workplace is a timely reference for psychiatrists, psychologists, forensic mental health specialists, and attorneys in this field.

Model, Process, and Analysis

Evaluating Mental Health Disability in the Workplace

Robert I. Simon

"Why did the defendant do it?" Mental health professionals are asked to help courts answer this question. To serve justice, the law calls for evidence of the mental state at the time a crime is committed, of suicide intent in civil litigation, and of mental capacity in contract litigation. The law asks psychiatrists and psychologists to retrospectively determine mental states -- a daunting task made even more difficult by the passage of time, the uncertain credibility of witnesses, the paucity of collateral sources of information, and often the death of the person in question. This is the first book dedicated entirely to the retrospective assessment of mental states. This fascinating book explores the role of the psychiatrist and psychologist, as an expert witness in litigation, in rendering a retrospective judgment of an individual's mental state. Distinguished contributors apply their expertise in psychiatry, psychology, and the law to address the problems of retrospective assessment. With the goal of developing guidelines for more accurate retrospective assessment of mental states, they present topics such as Guidelines for conducting retrospective assessments in children and adults Guidelines for the retrospective assessment without benefit of direct examination Assessments of suicide cases in both civil and criminal litigation Psychological testing and interviewing techniques that may assist in retrospective assessment Methods and analysis to help clinicians and attorneys critically evaluate the search for "truth" about the past. This remarkable book will prove indispensable for helping clinicians, lawyers, and judges better understand the complex and difficult process of retrospective reconstruction of mental states.

Daniel W. Shuman

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