Citation

Oguntoye A, Bursztajn HJ. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2009; 37(3): 306-309.

Affiliation

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

19767494

Abstract

Warren and her colleagues' timely exploration of the difficulties and uncertainties in diagnosing PTSD and personality disorders in the female inmate population raises fundamental questions for clinical as well as forensic analysis. Questions of under-reporting, over-reporting, and comorbidity in this population point to serious inadequacies in the scheme of categorical, context-independent diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The interplay of predisposition, life history, and current setting and circumstances can best be captured by a progressive refining of probability estimates. Such a diagnostic process calls for psychodynamically informed clinical and forensic interviewing. Additional recommendations are made for the purpose of achieving multidimensional, context-sensitive diagnosis and forensic evaluation.

Language: en