On the language surrounding the psychiatrist-as-expert

This paper responds to two articles in a recent issue of Australasian Psychiatry examining the names given to clinicians and forensic experts, and to the people to whom we give service.

The contextual issues that confront the psychiatrist-as-expert differ from those as the psychiatrist-as-therapist in certain important ways. The alteration of the name from patient into one more descriptive of their position, such as defendant or claimant, is protective for both the assessor and the assessed. It reminds all that the nature of the relationship is not primarily therapeutic.