The tasks of forensic psychiatric examination

The tasks of experimental psychological research in conducting a forensic psychiatric examination are differential diagnostics, establishing the degree (depth) of mental decline, taking into account the possible attitudinal behavior of the subject. In the latter case, there may be a problem of differentiation of simulation and aggravation from pseudodementia and true dementia, true noncriticality from simulative and dissimulative behavior. For the diagnosis of attitudinal behavior, various techniques and conditions for conducting experimental psychological research were proposed.
It is advisable to apply a set of techniques that allow to detect "unevenness of the level of achievements" using parallel directivity techniques. Bleicher points out that it is desirable to use a large number of techniques that are not located according to the degree of increase in the difficulty of assignments, and recommends conducting research again with an interval of several days.
Of particular importance is the activity of a psychologist during a forensic psychological examination, in which he acts in the independent role of an expert (complex psychological and psychiatric examination). The very possibility of such a role of a psychologist in the examination is supposed to be the content of the so-called formula of insanity, one of the most important provisions underlying forensic psychiatry. The formula of insanity includes two criteria - medical (biological) and legal (psychological). The content of the psychological criterion is formulated as the subject's ability to "understand the meaning of his actions and guide them." Felinskaya notes that in a forensic psychiatric examination, especially in cases of the most difficult borderline conditions, it is legitimate and necessary to combine a psychopathological and psychological analysis (incorrectly interpreted as unnecessary and even harmful “psychologization”), taking into account the manifestations of the psychological norm. For differential diagnosis, one should find the boundary between the norm governed by psychological laws and pathology driven by psychopathological patterns. This requires knowledge of the entire history of the formation of the subject's personality, the system of his life relations, values, as well as the preferential way of reacting in situations of neuropsychic stress.
A feature of the complex psychological and psychiatric examination is the fact that the expert psychologist often has to relate the results of the research to the previous period, quite remote from the time of the study. In such cases, the psychologist provides data on how the psychological characteristics of the subject could influence the motives, the understanding of his actions when committing the offense, and the behavior in that particular situation.
In a complex psychological and psychiatric examination, the psychologist works closely with a psychiatrist and each of them resolves, in accordance with his competence, the issues raised by the court and the investigation. Such a comprehensive examination is carried out with the examination of minors, the establishment of the age limit of adolescents in the event that mental development lags behind the physical (the importance of these issues has increased due to acceleration); delimitation of psychological reactions from psychogenic psychotic, physiological affect from pathological; in gerontological practice, for example, when drafting a will, when a question arises about the mental state of a disabled person and his capacity. In cases of complex expertise, the psychologist, of course, has equal rights and bears the same duties as other experts.