Psychiatry for Mentally Ill and Disordered Offenders

Running head: PSYCHIATRY FOR MENTALLY ILL AND DISORDERED OFFENDERS
PSYCHIATRY FOR MENTALLY ILL AND DISORDERED OFFENDERS
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1PSYCHIATRY FOR MENTALLY ILL AND DISORDERED OFFENDERS
Introduction:
Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that concentrated on the treatment, diagnosis and
prevention of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. (Jeste et al., 2015). In the history, it
has been argued that no person is born criminals but they become criminals. They are people
who come across various life events that change them mentally, emotionally and with their
behavior that make them criminals. Even though the argument cannot be called entirely truth it
certainly stands true for the mentally disordered offenders and the offenders with mental illness
(Jalava, Griffiths & Maraun, 2015). Modern psychiatry is considered as an effective way for the
treatment of mental illness for these groups. In the similar discourse, the paper aims to discuss
the way modern psychiatric services are effective for the treatment of mental illness and mentally
disordered offenders. The paper will demonstrate a critical understanding of the forensic
assessment process while recognizing the potential sources of oppression and discrimination.
The paper will highlight the development of forensic care in regard to the changes in social,
political and economic trends.
A critical understanding of the forensic assessment process, recognizing the potential
sources of oppression and discrimination:
A multidisciplinary team (MDT) can be called as a group of health workers. They are
members of different disciplines such as social workers, counselors, clinical nurse, community
mental health nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, medical secretaries and many other disciplines
depending on the illness of the patient. Every member in the group provides a precise service to
the patient. The team member works together to treat various issues that a patient might possess
however they focus in which they are all specialized (Goulter, Kavanagh & Gardner, 2015).

2PSYCHIATRY FOR MENTALLY ILL AND DISORDERED OFFENDERS
Psychiatrists are doctors holding degree or degrees in medicine who is expert in the assessment
of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, personality, psyosis, intellectual
difficulties or addictions. In mental health services, a psychologist is someone with a primary
degree in psychology followed by further education and specialist training in counseling clinical
psychology. Psychiatric nurses are the type of nurses who undergo a degree course in the
assessment and their job is care of people with mental health problem. Occupational therapists
hold basic degree in occupational therapists work in the rehabilitation of patients who suffers
with mental illness. Social workers are the people that place stress on their strengths and the
natural coping abilities of services users along with their families during their assessment of
people’s need (Newman et al., 2015).
Forensic mental health services are concerned with the treatment and of someone who
suffers from the mental disorder and someone who tend to pose of have already posed risks to
others. The treatment included in this service is to work on the mental disorder that is the actual
cause of risk causing to others. Managing mental disorder of the patient in the meantime
reducing the risk to other and offending behavior is the work of the MDT. The final goal is to
ensure that the patient can make safe return into the community. The functions of the forensic
psychiatrists are crucial in the field of criminology. They perform the courts works which
involves providing regular expert witness evidence to courts at all level. They have a significant
role in the courts in cases such as homicides, violence or sex offending. The areas of expertise
required by them are defendant’s fitness to plead and fitness to stand trial. However, although
they give an insight about the offender’s mental health, intentions and their motives, their
primary focus is the treatment for the patient. They also perform the task of consultation. They
are required to provide detailed report when they advice colleagues in the care of patients

3PSYCHIATRY FOR MENTALLY ILL AND DISORDERED OFFENDERS
including the level of risk of harm associated with him and the level of security required (Melton
et al., 2017).
The structure used within psychiatry in forensic mental health including inpatient and
outpatient care, and the use of the mental-health act as the legislation that governs
treatment:
Forensic psychiatric is the specific area of discussion, identification and guidance in
regard to issues related to the interface between law and mental health. Hence, to approach
forensic psychiatric worldwide, it is important that legislation is examined that regulate the
behavior of different culture. People with mental disorders give rise to two forms of concerns,
firstly the patient who is affected by the mental disorders and secondly the family members,
relatives and neighbors (Slade et al., 2014).
Mental Health Act (MHA) is divided into various sections. Firstly there are rights of the
mental health patients followed by rights of the family members. The patients have the right to
give his consent on the treatment, on leaving the hospital and in regard to the care plan. Also,
there are rights of the patients in regard to his or her treatments in the community. There are
other laws as well that are important to be aware such as equality act 2010, mental capacity act
2005,care act 2014, social service and well-being act 2014 (wales), human rights act 1998 and
data protection act 2018 (Dawson, 2015).
A stable home helps in proving a sense of identity and belonging from which they will
rebuild their lives. Considering the current changes in policies across sectors such as health,
housing, criminal justice and welfare provides opportunities as well as risks for improving access
to stable accommodation for offenders with mental health problems. Mentally ill offenders are