The case that landed on my desk The case that landed on my desk seemed straightforward at first glance. A 26‑year‑old college graduate and former Marine had broken an emergency medical technician’s nose with a single punch after she responded to a late‑night call at his home. A few familiar scenarios came to mind: anContinueContinue reading “When a Seizure Looks Like Assault: Postictal Violence and Criminal Responsibility”
Category Archives: Psychology
15 Minutes of Fame: MSBP and Me
I never set out to be “the MSBP guy.” For a few years, though, if there was a high-profile Munchausen by proxy case in the news, there was a decent chance I’d end up on a plane, in a courtroom, or in front of a camera talking about it. Back in 1998, I had aContinueContinue reading “15 Minutes of Fame: MSBP and Me”
Adventures in Forensic Psychology: Continuing Education, Pseudoscience, and the CEU Shell Game
January Again: The Biennial Panic It’s January, and it is already time for me to start making belated plans for fulfilling my continuing education requirements. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but this happens every two years. I put it off and put it off month after month until I really have to hustleContinueContinue reading “Adventures in Forensic Psychology: Continuing Education, Pseudoscience, and the CEU Shell Game”
Adventures in Forensic Psychology: Competence to Stand Trial
Whenever people ask me what I do for a living, and I say that I’m a forensic psychologist, I generally get some version of “Oh, that must be so cool!” I get it; the only exposure most people have to the professions is what they see on “L.A. Law” or “CSI.” Generally, they see aContinueContinue reading “Adventures in Forensic Psychology: Competence to Stand Trial”
Magic and the Brain
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I am a magician. Not a Gandalf-style wizard, although that would be cool. I mean the “now you see it, now you don’t” sleight-of-hand kind of magician. I’m reasonably good, not quite professional grade, but skilled enough to be entertaining. I can vanish and reproduce coins andContinueContinue reading “Magic and the Brain”
L Was a Personal Friend of Mine: Autism and Savant Skills
So, it was 1978, and I had managed to get accepted to Yeshiva University’s doctoral program in school psychology. Good news, right? But as my father once told me, you try and try to make the team, and then you have to come off the bench and play the game. At that point in myContinueContinue reading “L Was a Personal Friend of Mine: Autism and Savant Skills”
A Gorilla Walks into a Bar: A Meditation on Humor
A Gorilla Walks into a Bar Back around 1982, Kay and I had gotten together as a couple and were living in a studio in Westbeth, the furthest extreme of the West Village. I was still in grad school and needed a side gig to bring in some money. I had worked as a cookContinueContinue reading “A Gorilla Walks into a Bar: A Meditation on Humor”
The Old Hag-A Special Kind of Sleep Terror
It’s a night like any other. You go to bed and drop off to sleep, but just as you start to drop off, you are jolted back into wakefulness. You hear a loud humming in your ears, and you try to sit up, but you find to your dismay that you are completely paralyzed. YouContinueContinue reading “The Old Hag-A Special Kind of Sleep Terror”
Koro: The Genital Retraction Syndrome
Back when I was researching unusual psychiatric symptoms, I came across a group of diagnoses that have been referred to as “culture-bound” disorders. The term refers to specific types of disorders that occur only in a specific culture, and they tend to be caused by a specific pattern of symptoms that only occur or makeContinueContinue reading “Koro: The Genital Retraction Syndrome”
Unusual Psychiatric Disorders: Another Occasional Feature
Ever since I became a psychologist, I’ve been fascinated by some of the unusual diagnoses and syndromes that lurk in the dark corners of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, 5th Edition (DSM-5) and academic databases. At one point I even started a book on the subject, but life got inContinueContinue reading “Unusual Psychiatric Disorders: Another Occasional Feature”
Samurai Shrink (formally Wandering Shrink) 