Please give your thoughts/answer each question below separately:
1. Risk assessment Shakeera's post raises some very interesting and ethically troubling
... [Show More] issues. Her idea about a plan and possession of firearms are two important areas. However, research on risk assessment has identified over thirty dimensions that need to be evaluated. It is unlikely that given current budgetary constraints, that professionals will have the time or inclination to do such a thorough evaluation. Yet, research has shown that without such a careful evaluation, we are generally wrong 2 out of 3 times in our predictions (we overpredict in order to be on the safe side) With such a careful evaluation, we are about 60% accurate. There are two ethical issues here: 1. should we make predictive statements when at our best we are right 6 out of 10 times? In other words, are we harming those we say are dangerous or at high risk when they really are not.2. Considering the fact that most practitioners cannot do such a careful evaluation, how should they respond when a court asks for an evaluation of the potential for violence? Should they just turn it down, saying the science is not good enough yet? That of course, opens the door for less ethical people to make statements without any backing at all. I would appreciate your thoughts
2. Denson raises an important point about how often psychologists report their concerns to police and the police do nothing; it is difficult to say, because unless something terrible happens as with Holmes, it never becomes a public issues. Do therapists overreact because of fear of litigation? Absolutely, this is one of the negative fallouts from duty to protect laws. Judging however by the number of successful lawsuits that come from failure to protect or warn (very few, less than 2%) of malpractice cases), it is a rare occurrence. It is the media that explode the issue and make it sound like it happens every day.
3. Discuss examples of obsessive-compulsive behavior that occur in everyday life and that are not considered abnormal.
4. Anxiety disorders cause significant stress and problems for individuals suffering from them. Look at the symptoms and discuss which disorder you think is the most impairing and which is the least impairing. [Show Less]