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- Anckarsäter, Henrik, 1966
(author)
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Beyond categorical diagnostics in psychiatry: Scientific and medicolegal implications.
- 2010
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In: International journal of law and psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6386 .- 0160-2527. ; 33:2, s. 59-65
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Conforming to a medical disease model rooted in phenomenology and natural science, psychiatry classifies mental disorders according to signs and symptoms considered to be stable and homogeneous across individuals. Scientific studies addressing the validity of this classification are scarce. Following a seminal paper by Robins and Guze in 1970, validity of categories has been sought in specific criteria referring to symptoms and prognosis, aggregation in families, and "markers", preferentially laboratory tests. There is, however, a growing misfit between the model and empirical findings from studies putting it to the test. Diagnostic categories have not been shown to represent natural groups delineated from the normal variation or from each other. Aetiological factors (genetic and/or environmental), laboratory aberrations, and treatment effects do not respect categorical boundaries. A more adequate description of mental problems may be achieved by: 1) a clear definition of the epistemological frame in which psychiatry operates, 2) a basic rating of the severity of intra- and interpersonal dysfunctions, and 3) empirical comparisons to complementary rather than exclusive dimensions of inter-individual differences in context-specific mental functions, treatment effects, and laboratory findings. Such a pluralistic understanding of mental health problems would fit empirical models in the neurosciences and postmodern notions of subjectivity alike. It would also clarify the assessment of dysfunction and background factors in relation to the requisites for penal law exemptions or insurance policies and make them empirically testable rather than dependent on expert opinion on issues such as whether a specific dysfunction is "psychiatric", "medical", or ascribable to "personality".
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| 2. |
- Bergenheim, Åsa, 1954-
(author)
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Sexual assault, irresistible impulses, and forensic psychiatry in Sweden
- 2014
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Elsevier. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 37:1, s. 99-108
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- After forensic psychiatry was firmly established in Sweden in the 1930s, many rapists and individuals charged with assaulting children underwent a forensic psychiatric examination. The physicians found that most of them had not been “in control” of their senses or not “in complete control” of their senses at the time of the crime. If the court ordered a forensic psychiatric examination, the defendant had a very good chance of either being discharged or having his sentence reduced considerably. By the 1950s psychological perspectives began to dominate in forensic psychiatry. In the forensic records of the 1950s we can notice a shift from a biomedical to a socio-psychological perspective, and crime was increasingly related to conditions that were not seen as mental derangement from a legal point of view. As a result, it became less and less common, from the 1950s onwards, for sentences to be commuted or defendants discharged.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Diesen, Christian, et al.
(author)
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Sex crime legislation : Proactive and anti-therapeutic effects
- 2010
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 33:06-maj, s. 329-335
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Therapeutic jurisprudence may have its major role within law practice, but analysis of the law from a therapeutic perspective is a task that should not be neglected: how a piece of legislation is designed and formulated certainly influences the therapeutic outcome of a legal process. This article uses sex legislation as an example to demonstrate how the old rape law based on coercion has anti-therapeutic effects on rape victims. If the law requires resistance, it implies that a woman is sexually available until she resists physically, resulting in an attitude that a woman reporting rape without injuries should be mistrusted. This mistrust of the victim and the victim's attendant feelings of self-blame aggravate the victim's trauma. On the other hand, a modern rape law based on lack of consent gives the signal that a woman is not available until she has given her consent, resulting in a different starting position for the investigation. Since the will of the victim must be respected, the victim herself must be respected in the legal process. Furthermore, being able to tell one's story in a respectful atmosphere can be more important for the well-being of the victim than the outcome of the reported case.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Kindström Dahlin, Moa, et al.
(author)
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Swedish Legal Scholarship Concerning Protection of Vulnerable Groups : Therapeutic and Proactive Dimensions
- 2010
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 33:5-6, s. 398-405
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents a brief overview of the legal theoretical problems that arise in connection with the societal ambition of protecting vulnerable groups. One of the central difficulties in legislation with proactive and therapeutic ambitions arises from the link between law and philosophy of science, i.e., the relationship between facts and norms. It is shown that Therapeutic Jurisprudence differs in several aspects from Swedish legal scholarship that follows Scandinavian Legal Realism. It is also demonstrated that Therapeutic Jurisprudence has several similarities with the so-called Proactive Approach. This paper suggests that Therapeutic Jurisprudence may serve as a useful legal theoretical perspective in Swedish legal scholarship, especially when studying complex and vague regulations with a future focus. Two examples from Swedish legislation are examined: (a) Laws regulating compulsory care of abused or neglected children, and (b) laws related to the mentally ill. This paper illustrates the complexity in these acts, and poses the question of whether the regulations serve their purpose of providing adequate care for and protection of those in need.
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| 7. |
- Maycraft Kall, Wendy Katherine, 1962-
(author)
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Same law - same rights? : Analyzing why Sweden's disability legislation failed to create equal rights in mental health
- 2014
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - Oxford : Pergamon Press. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 37:6, s. 609-618
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article analyzed the apparent paradox of disability rights in Sweden. Despite strong welfare state traditions and stated Government ambitions to create generous statutory entitlements for all disabled people using a single, comprehensive Disability Act, psychiatric disabilities were principally excluded from the Disability Act's rights and provisions. The study focused on Sweden's Mental Health Reform and Disability Reform using governance perspectives that traced and analyzed the policy-processes of both reforms. Theoretically guided analytical frameworks were developed to help understand the divergent reform outcomes. The first focused on legislative arguments of regulatory specificity and legal enforcement mechanisms to consider whether the Disability Act was formulated in a manner that was easier to apply to certain disabilities. The second analyzed ideological arguments and the influence of Government political beliefs that signaled specific reform ‘visions’ to implementers and thereby influenced policy implementation. The main findings are that both perspectives matter as the dual influences of legislative and ideological differences tended to exclude mental health service users from the Act's generous disability rights. The overall conclusion was that while legislation was an important regulatory mechanism, the Government's underlying ideological reform vision was also an essential governance instrument that signaled Government intentions to implementing agencies and thus influenced the creation of enduring disability rights.
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| 8. |
- Radovic, Susanna, 1969, et al.
(author)
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Explanations for violent behaviour - An interview study among forensic in-patients
- 2014
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 37:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The alleged relation between mental disorder and violent criminal behaviour has been investigated mainly from an epidemiological perspective. Population-based registry studies have shown that violence occurs more frequently among people with mental disorders, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, compared with control subjects, but that the increased risk is largely mediated by drug abuse and socio-economic deprivation. The aim of this study was to explore how patients who have committed violent or sexual crimes and have been sentenced to forensic psychiatric care by a Swedish court of law construed their criminal actions in terms of causes. Forty-six participants from six different Swedish forensic psychiatric clinics were included in the study. A semi-structured interview study was conducted and the data was analysed using a thematic analysis. A large group of the participants did not believe that the mental disorder played any role in the criminal events. Contributing causes that were mentioned were drug abuse and social factors.
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| 9. |
- Sjöström, Stefan, 1965-, et al.
(author)
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Why community compulsion became the solution : reforming mental health law in Sweden
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 34:6, s. 419-428
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aimof this article is to understand how compulsory community care (CCC) has become a solution in mental health policy in so many different legal and social contexts during the last 20 years. The recent introduction of CCC in Sweden is used as a case in point, which is then contrasted against the processes in Norway, England/Wales and New York State. In Sweden, the issue of CCC was initiated following high-profile acts of violence. Contrary to several other states, therewas agreement about the (lack of) evidence about its effectiveness. Rather than focusing on dangerousness, the government proposal about CCC was framedwithin an ideology of integrating the disabled. The new legislation allowed for a broad range ofmeasures to control patients at the same time as itwas presented as a means to protect positive rights for patients. Compared to previous legislation in Sweden, the scope of social control has remained largely the same, although the rationale has changed — from medical treatment via community treatment and rehabilitation, to reducing the risk of violence, and then shifting back to rehabilitation in the community. The Swedish approach to CCC is similar to Norway, while New York and England/Wales have followed different routes. Differences in ideology, social control and rights orientations can be understood with reference to the general welfare and care regimes that characterize the four states.
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| 10. |
- Veen, Violaine C., et al.
(author)
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Cross-ethnic generalizability of the three-factor model of psychopathy : the youth psychopathic traits inventory in an incarcerated sample of native Dutch and Moroccan immigrant boys
- 2011
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In: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. - : Pergamon Press. - 0160-2527 .- 1873-6386. ; 34:2, s. 127-130
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Previous research provides support for the existence of the psychopathy construct in youths. However, studies regarding the psychometric properties of psychopathy measures with ethnic minority youths are lacking.METHODS: In the present study, the three-factor structure of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) was examined for both native Dutch youth (N=158) and an ethnic minority group, Moroccans (N=141), in an incarcerated adolescent population in the Netherlands.RESULTS: Our results showed that the three-factor structure of the YPI is comparable across an ethnic majority and an ethnic minority group in an incarcerated sample in the Netherlands. Moreover, associations between psychopathic traits and mental health problems were similar for both ethnic groups.CONCLUSION: The results support the cross-ethnic generalizability of the three-factor model of psychopathy as measured through the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory.
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