Oral performance, identity, and representation in forensic psychiatry

The specialty of forensic psychiatry is advancing in practice and in its scholarship. One task for an evolving discipline is to define and master the nature of its work. In this article we assert that the work of testifying in court is more than the sharing of specialized knowledge. It is performance. Anthropology, religious studies, political science, and psychology (among other disciplines) have investigated elements of face-to-face human interaction set within ritual and credentialed it as worthy of attention and belief. Such is the nature of expert testimony within forensic psychiatry. This is our position, but we also consider well-founded concerns about the ethics of highlighting oral performance. These topics emphasize the need for the discipline to recognize the unique nature of testimony, to master the work and control standards that assure excellence and ethics-based practice.