Nasnaranpattiyage Don George Leslie

This is a largely American book, yet it achieves its objective of ensuring that overall the ideas presented are not limited in their application to any particular jurisdiction. The opening and most of the closing chapters will be of value to practitioners outside America but the central chapters refer mainly to American statute and case law.

To give a run-down of the chapters, ‘Confidentiality and record keeping’ has a bias towards law and practice in the USA. Nevertheless, it reveals many issues and problems which should be addressed by psychiatrists who prepare reports without written consent. Of practical application is the chapter on ethics, a thorough and readable piece. A particularly helpful chapter is one entitled ‘Writing a narrative’; with the demise of the formulation in psychiatric practice, learning how to construct a narrative may contribute to a renaissance of the formulation. As its author states: ‘The weaving of fact and interpretation into a story is the form that allows the audience to understand the psychiatric formulation’. ‘Draughtsmanship’ and ‘Report structure’ have useful tips. However, I disagree with the suggestion that weak points should be omitted from the opinion and I caution against following the advice ‘not to keep all preliminary drafts of a report once the report is completed’.

The chapters on reports for different purposes are marred by an editorial error. The same box has been reproduced in each chapter, whereas the intention was that this would be chapter specific. Thus, paradoxically, ‘Topics warranting distinctive treatment [sic] in criminal litigation reports’ is identical to the box ‘Topics warranting distinctive treatment in civil litigation reports’, etc.

‘Incorporating psychological testing’, with its section on psychiatrist-administered psychological tests, should be mandatory reading for psychiatrists who administer psychological tests in forensic assessments. ‘Violence risk assessment’ and ‘Psychiatry and ethics in UK sentencing’ are useful for psychiatrists who prepare reports that address ‘dangerousness’. I also learnt much from the chapter on malingering - ‘so easy to suspect, yet so difficult to prove’.