Mr Q was an offender on remand for GBH when I went to assess him in prison as part of my role as an expert witness. He had become the target of gangs on the outside after they believed he had been a snitch. A label that would follow him. In prison he was attacked repeatedly and while alone in his cell his mental health was deteriorating. He was traumatised by a teenage incident where his friend was murdered right in front of him when they were jumped by a gang in his hometown. In this episode I go through why my mental health assessment of Mr Q didn’t go to plan, Mr Q’s history and symptoms a ..read more

Do you know how many doctors are needed to section someone? Or what the criteria is for someone to require a section? What about the difference between a Section 2, Section 3 or a Section 37? I explain all this here in this episode. I also tell you what problems a psychiatrist, like myself, can encounter when sectioning someone and the various different professionals involved when a person is sectioned into a psychiatric hospital. If you are worried about someone close to you who is psychiatrically unwell, this episode might be helpful for you. WATCH ON YOU TUBE - https://www.youtube.com/wat ..read more

This episode is the first of three in a series where I focus on gangs. I'm going to answer the key questions you have about gangs and tell you about three of my own cases that I've personally assessed as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist working in London. In this episode I'll tell you about a teenager charged with the brutal attempted murder of another teenager after a gang fight. When he started to hear voices while behind bars, it was my job to go in and assess him. Weeks later I found out his victim tragically died. This teenager saw his charges upgraded to murder. Did you enjoy this ep ..read more

Chris talks with me about his career and the cases that stand out to him and gives some valuable advice for anyone interested in crime reporting as a career. Chris has a website which has been running for around 10 years. Databases available for searching include serial killers, organised crime and miscarrages of justice alongside murder cases. I highly recommend you check it out! Here is the link - https://totalcrime.co.uk/ If you have any questions about this episode or about mental health, get in touch! Comment below, email me at psychforsoreminds@gmail.com or join me on social media:- TW ..read more

I'm a criminal psychiatrist; I’ve assessed dozens of patients who have a formal diagnosis of psychopathy and many more who have narcissistic traits. So, where other people chat about narcissism and psychopathy on their podcasts, I’ve actually lived it and today, I'm bringing my expertise and experience to you.  Both narcissists and psychopaths often offend because they have little capacity for empathy, and they just don't feel the rules apply to them. But narcissism is about praise, appearance and how they look to other people. What other people think of them matters. Psychopaths don't c ..read more

After doing some reading on covid psychosis I've been a little concerned to discover that it is a very real thing. Months after suffering with the Covid-19 virus, a small proportion of people are developing psychosis, that is an episode of being out of touch with reality for a period of time. For many it comes as a surprise and very unexpectedly.  In this episode I delve a little deeper into what we know about coronavirus psychosis, and I tell you more about psychosis as a psychiatric manifestation including psychotic episodes and how they can present in different people. I also talk abo ..read more

Bamber told police it was his sister Sheila, who had paranoid schizophrenia, that murdered their family and then took her own life. A version of events police initially believed. But that belief didn't last long. Jeremy Bamber to this day protests his innocence in these horrific murders and he has a lot of supporters who believe he is innocent of these crimes. My area of expertise as a consultant forensic psychiatrist is the crossover between mental illness and offending. I hadn't heard of this case until Kay Page from White House Farm podcast introduced me to it. I wanted to take a look at ..read more

Lisa Montgomery's execution has now been rescheduled to take place on 12 January 2021. Her sentence and impending execution has caused controversary. She has a long history of mental illness stemming from a childhood filled with trauma. As a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist this is exactly the type of case I am asked to assess and give evidence for as an expert witness in criminal court. In this episode, I take a look at the Lisa Montgomery case. I explore her background and her multiple mental health diagnoses, giving you a breakdown of what they are and what they mean.  WATCH THIS EPI ..read more

When you're a Forensic Psychiatrist you learn to expect the unexpected. In this episode I'm going to tell you about two of my real-life cases who I personally assessed. In the first, I was hoodwinked. Fooled into believing the defendant was mentally ill when in fact this young lady was skilled in presenting extreme behaviours to trick her doctors. In the second case it was the opposite. Mr W was the reverse of malingering. He had a previous mental health diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder and I think was possibly psychotic at the time of his crimes. But, he played down his mental illness ..read more

How easy is it to fake symptoms of mental illness? In this episode I'm going to tell you the tactics and intutions I've learned in my career as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist to pick up when a patient or offender is malingering. I'll also tell you about Miss B, a patient I personally assessed at the request of the Crown Prosecution service to see if she was fit to plead in her fraud case due at the Old Bailey in London. I think Miss B exaggerated her mental illness and got her charges dropped despite the evidence I gave to the court. I'll tell you the full story right here in this episode ..read more