13.1 Forensic psychiatric examination in civil proceedings

In the past 20 years, there has been a tendency to increase forensic psychiatric examinations in civil proceedings. This is due to many factors, first of all, to the changes that have occurred in Russian society and in the legislation. Political, economic and legal reforms have changed attitudes towards human rights and property. Entry into force of the Law of the Russian Federation of 02.07.1992 No. 3185-1 "On psychiatric care and guarantees of the rights of citizens in its provision" (hereinafter - the Law on Psychiatric Care), CC and SC increased the freedoms and rights of citizens. You can take advantage of them in the mental preservation of personality, providing free will, not limited to mental disorders.

According to the WHO, in 2005 there were 400 million people with mental disorders in the world, in Russia - 6.8% of the population have mental disabilities. Against the background of the growth of the mental pathology of the population, civil disputes more and more often arise in which people with mental disorders act as plaintiffs and defendants. However, persons with mental disorders, due to their painful mental disorders, cannot be foreseen when they commit legal acts, cannot exercise their civil rights without harming themselves and their loved ones.

Appeal in the civil procedure of actions of persons with mental disorders concerns special psychiatric issues. The court in these cases in accordance with Art. 79 of the Code of Civil Procedure (on the possibility of examination when considering issues that require special knowledge in the field of science, technology, art, etc.) may appoint a forensic psychiatric examination. Legal aspects of the appointment of a forensic psychiatric examination in a civil procedure are regulated by the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Investigative Committee, and the Law on Psychiatric Assistance.

Forensic psychiatric examination in these cases is to help the courts make the right decision and thus protect the rights of people with mental disorders.

The range of issues that are resolved during a forensic psychiatric examination in a civil procedure is much broader than in a criminal one. These are cases on recognizing a citizen as incapable in accordance with Art. 29 Civil Code, property and labor disputes, involuntary provision of psychiatric care, appeal against the fact of involuntary hospitalization. In recent years, new types of examinations have appeared - examinations related to the determination of harm to health, harm caused by improper treatment, cases about canceling a previously established psychiatric diagnosis, disputes about infringed rights related to the actions of medical workers.

At the present stage of development of forensic examination, an integrated approach to solving expert tasks becomes more significant. Increasingly, in civil cases, complex forensic psychological and psychiatric examinations are being appointed, which combine the knowledge of two sciences - psychology and psychiatry. Medical psychology and psychiatry are the frontier interpenetrating areas of scientific knowledge. They study the same object using interconnected and complementary research methods. The correlated system of conceptual apparatus allows psychology and psychiatry to more fully and comprehensively describe the phenomena and mechanisms of mental disorders, to jointly consider and provide an integrated assessment of the results of the coordinated application of the specialized knowledge of an expert psychologist and an expert psychiatrist with a view to a reliable, most complete and comprehensive one-stop response to expert questions.

In order to acquire rights and implement them with one’s own actions, it is necessary to reasonably reason, understand the meaning of the norms of law, be aware of the consequences of one’s actions, and have life experience. All these qualities are dependent on the age and mental health of the citizen.