PTSD and the Forensic Psychiatrist

  This blog post is aimed at anyone considering a career in forensic psychiatry. Please read this interview in the Ottawa Citizen entitled 'Tough forensic guy' John Bradford opens up about his PTSD'.I'm going to preface this post by saying that I know the man featured in this interview. He is an extremely accomplished and internationally recognized authority on the evaluation and treatment of sex offenders. To think that we could have lost him is a devastating idea to me. He has always been respected within the forensic community, but I respect him even more after this interview.In this article Dr. Bradford talks about the recent stress a pretrial evaluation placed upon him when he had to work overtime, under a deadline, to evaluate a sexually sadistic murderer. He was required to watch actual videos of the crimes, to witness the killings and to hear the pleas of the women he knew were doomed. The experience brought back recollections of other serious crimes and cases he had been involved with in the past. In the interview he discusses the effects this had upon him over time and the challenges he faced when he finally needed to get help dealing with it. Getting treatment was particularly difficult for him, both because of his prominence but also because forensic psychiatrists are just supposed to be able to handle this stuff. In his own words:“It’s complicated,” he says. “In my case it was macho. I’m a top forensic psychiatrist and I saw it as a weakness. I do...
Source: Shrink Rap - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs