Chapter 11

Question 1

In which civil cases can mental health experts be involved?

Answer 1

Psychological damages in civil cases

Negligence and product liability

Trademark litigation

Discrimination

Guardianship and conservatorship

Child custody

Adoption

Termination of parental rights

Professional malpractice

Question 2

What is the objective of civil competency assessment?

Answer 2

To determine if an individual has the capacity to understand relevant information and make informed decisions about situations such as managing finances, making medical decisions, executing a will, and making advance medical treatment decisions.

Question 3

What factors are assessed in decision-making competency?

Answer 3

Understanding basic information relevant to the decision

Ability to apply that information to anticipate consequences

Use of rational thinking to evaluate options

Ability to communicate a personal decision

Question 4

What is a psychological autopsy?

Answer 4

A postmortem evaluation conducted by clinicians to assess the state of mind of a deceased person at a specific time, often in cases involving suicide, insurance claims, or questions regarding the person’s mental state when making decisions.

Question 5

What is the standard for child custody evaluations?

Answer 5

The best interests of the child, assessed on a case-by-case basis, considering factors like the child’s wishes, relationships with family, adjustment to home/school/community, and the physical and mental health of the parents.

Question 6

What criteria are used in child custody assessments under the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act?

Answer 6

Wishes of the child

Wishes of the parents

Relationships between the child and family members

Child’s adjustment at home, school, and community

Physical and mental health of the parties involved

Question 7

What does assessing parental fitness in a child custody case involve?

Answer 7

Determining whether the child should remain with the parents or be removed from the home due to parental unfitness.

Question 8

What is civil commitment, and when does it apply?

Answer 8

Civil commitment laws allow for the involuntary custody and restraint of individuals who, due to mental illness, are a danger to themselves or others or cannot care for themselves. It includes:

Emergency detention

Voluntary inpatient commitment

Involuntary inpatient commitment

Outpatient commitment

Question 9

Who can initiate involuntary detention for civil commitment?

Answer 9

A police officer, mental health professional, or sometimes a private citizen can initiate involuntary detention.

Question 10

What are the key concepts in dangerousness and risk assessment?

Answer 10

Risk factors – Variables associated with the probability of violence or aggression

Harm – The nature and severity of predicted or actual aggression

Risk level – The probability that harm will occur

Question 11

What makes assessing dangerousness difficult?

Answer 11

Low base rate of violence in some groups makes it hard to predict rare events.

Assessments are often done in hospitals or prisons, but predictions are for community environments.

Long-term risk is harder to predict than short-term violence risk

Question 12

What is the role of risk assessments in evaluating dangerousness?

Answer 12

Clinicians conduct assessments to predict who is likely to behave violently, estimate the risk for violence, and suggest ways to reduce that risk.

Question 13

Ford Motor Credit Co. v. Sheehan (1979) concerned a debt collector who pretended to be a hospital employee and told the debtor’s mother that her grandchildren had been seriously injured in an accident and he needed to find the debtor to inform him of this. The court determined that the debt collector’s behavior was which of the following?

Answer 13

Extreme and outrageous

Question 14

In a worker compensation case, an individual taking an MMPI-2-RF or an MMPI-3 test is likely to be motivated to do which of the following?

Answer 14

Fake “bad”

Question 15

“Purely” psychological injuries may arise from which of the following?

Answer 15

Willful defaulting

Question 16

Torts are part of which of the following?

Answer 16

Civil cases

Question 17

In writing a will, assessment of which competence focuses on which of the following capabilities of the individual at the time their will was written?

Answer 17

Functional abilities

Question 18

Whether a person is now or could in the future be dangerous is an issue that underlies many decisions in our system of justice, including questions of civil commitment. What is this concept called?

Answer 18

Dangerousness

Question 19

Which of the following compromises the objectivity of psychological evaluations in workers’ compensation cases?

Answer 19

Attorneys retain the same expert multiple times.

Question 20

Which of the following is not true in joint custody situations?

Answer 20

Joint custody requires that affected children spend 50 percent of their time with each of their parents.

Question 21

Psychologists are rarely asked to evaluate which of the following types of cases?

Answer 21

Mental–physical

Question 22

Protective factors that make it less likely divorce will adversely affect the children involved include which of the following?

Answer 22

A custodial parent with family support and a noncustodial parent with regular and consistent contact with the children

Question 23

Psychological autopsies are performed in all of the following situations except which of the following?

Answer 23

To determine if stressful working conditions led a worker to kill others

Question 24

A clinician has been asked to evaluate whether someone lacks testamentary capacity. Which of the following is the clinician assessing?

Answer 24

The person’s competency to execute a will

Question 25

The sailors who survived the capsizing of the Aleutian Enterprise filed a lawsuit against the company that owned the ship, claiming they suffered psychological harm (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) as a result of this event. What was the outcome of this case?

Answer 25

They were compensated for their psychological injuries because they had been in the “zone of danger.”

Question 26

Last year Davea took her eight-year-old son to the State Fair and put him on the roller coaster. She was horrified to see that shortly after the ride started, the coaster derailed, throwing her son to the ground. He died on the way to the hospital. Davea filed a civil suit. The compensation for her psychological damages is possible because the courts have recently allowed plaintiffs to sue for psychological damages if the conduct arises from which of the following?

Answer 26

Negligent behavior

Question 27

The “usefulness” proportion (sometimes called the “contrary quotient”) is a reasonable measure of which of the following?

Answer 27

Evaluator impartiality