Paul B.

I guess that depends on what you are getting it for. If you are looking to supplement your clinical training or learn more about forensic psychology, than I don't see why not. However, in the United States where I live, this degree is not helpful for doing forensic evaluations for the court. Only licensed clinical psychologists can do this. Therefore, you have to get a degree as a licensed clinical psychologist and a forensic psychology degree is not beneficial to that end. However, in other countries it may be different.

Although that research is interesting, there is also research showing that even trained psychologists, police officers, lawyers, detectives, judges, etc. are no better than chance at correctly identifying who is lying.

Good questions. Generally they are answering legal questions which have some neuropsychological component. As a result, the most common diagnoses will be various neurocognitive disorders. Frequently they are considering the deficits caused by stroke, dementia, and/or head injuries. Other considerations might include epilepsy/seizures and delirium.

That's a great article. Thank you for sharing that. Dopamine certainly also helps to explain the connection between psychopathy and substance use.

It is sad but very often true. I wonder who the kitten picked on.

I really like the response you gave, @Vera Eftimovska. I don't think I can say it better. I will add that often the product of victimization is the onset of PTSD, an adjustment disorder, separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or major depressive disorder.

@Emily M makes some very good points, and I agree. I think a few issues in addition to what she already described is that (1) men are less likely to seek mental health treatment for depression and are therefore less likely to be diagnosed, (2) men are less likely to be perceived as depressed by mental health clinicians due to bias which reduces the rate of diagnosis, and (3) men are more likely to engage in externalizing behaviors than internalizing behaviors in response to distress. As a result, others are likely to label them differently.

Wow, that was quite the post! I really enjoyed reading that and it has given me some food for thought. You have an impressive knowledge. I like that last sentence in particular, "Consciousness can perhaps be described as our continuing stream of awareness of either our surroundings or our sequential thoughts."

@mbakmer63 I agree with @Benjamin Silber, Ph.D., ABPP. It can certainly depend and I think we have to look at it on a case by case basis. I agree with you though that there are many cases in which this has occurred. I would add that this is not specific only to psychology, however. It occurs in other fields of scientific study as well.

I would like to see more qualitative research on the nature of delusional beliefs, especially as they differ by diagnosis (e.g., delusional thought content of schizophrenia vs. major depressive disorder with psychotic features).

That sounds really interesting. I will take a look. Thank you for posting this and sharing it with everyone.

I have certainly worked with many individuals for which this is true. There is nothing about their minds or brains which impairs their capacity to recognize harm to others or right/wrong. It simply does not have the same impact or significance to them that it does to many others.

It is hard to say what is "best," but generally cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has some of the best research demonstrating its effectiveness for the treatment and management of anxiety.

I enjoyed reading your post. Great response and so informative.

Suicide is an important consideration within forensic psychology, but I have never heard of it referred to as a subcategory.

I have actually tried that in my own practice on various occasions. It almost never works, in my experience. In almost all cases, they deny they were pretending and insist that everything they have said or done is true/real.

@Jonathan Samson Generally you only treat something that is medically wrong (e.g., and illness or injury). Someone pretending to be mentally ill to gain a benefit from it is not an illness or injury. They are simply pretending. There is no treatment necessary for that sort of behavior.

Generally there is very limited participation by psychologists. Most often, profiling is done by FBI or police investigators/detectives with many years of experience in the field. It is quite rare for psychologists to work as criminal profilers.

@Affra Iftikhar I completely agree with you. The media is quick to point responsibility for what these people do at just about anyone and anything (e.g., guns, the government, mental health, politics, religion, race, etc. depending on the news outlet). They never seem to recognize or appreciate the impact of their own actions.

@James Anderson I had not read that before either.