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Fatality Review Teams: A Public Health Role for Forensic Psychiatry

Forensic psychiatrists and psychologists tend to focus primarily on the individual cases they work on. However, they also have a significant public health role — especially on fatality review teams.

These multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams look back on individual deaths to determine whether reasonable medical, educational, social, legal, or psychological interventions might have prevented the death. The team makes public health, mental health, and legislative recommendations based on their findings.

Perspectives on Postpartum Psychosis

Postpartum psychosis (PPP) occurs in one to three out of every 1,000 pregnancies. However, its diagnosis is difficult because it is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and because the name is a misnomer. Symptoms include not only psychosis but also mania, depression, and delirium.