FASS flashcards
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32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Base rate effect
- When a disorder is rare in a population, even a highly specific test produces many false positives, lowering positive predictive value.
- Standard error of measurement
- An index of the expected variability of a person's observed score around their true score; SEM = SD times the square root of one minus reliability.
- T-score metric
- A standard score with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10, commonly used on MMPI and other personality instruments.
- Positive likelihood ratio
- The ratio of the true positive rate to the false positive rate (sensitivity divided by one minus specificity); values above 10 indicate strong diagnostic evidence.
- Major depressive episode
- At least five symptoms lasting two weeks or more, including depressed mood or anhedonia, causing clinically significant impairment.
- Hypomanic episode
- A distinct period of elevated or irritable mood with increased energy lasting at least four days, without marked impairment or psychosis.
- Schizophrenia duration criterion
- Continuous signs of disturbance must persist for at least six months, including at least one month of active-phase symptoms.
- Antisocial personality disorder
- A pattern of disregard for others' rights since age 15, with conduct disorder evidence before 15 and at least three adult criteria.
- Delirium vs dementia
- Delirium has acute onset with fluctuating attention and awareness; dementia has insidious, progressive cognitive decline without acute fluctuation.
- PTSD symptom clusters
- Requires intrusion, avoidance, negative cognition/mood, and arousal/reactivity symptoms lasting more than one month after trauma exposure.
- Structured professional judgment
- A risk assessment approach combining empirical risk factors with clinician judgment, as in the HCR-20, rather than a fixed actuarial algorithm.
- PCL-R purpose
- A 20-item measure of psychopathy yielding factor scores for interpersonal/affective and lifestyle/antisocial traits; not a stand-alone violence predictor.
- Static vs dynamic risk
- Static factors are historical and unchangeable; dynamic factors are modifiable and are targets for risk management and treatment.
- Dusky standard
- Competency to stand trial requires present ability to consult with counsel with rational understanding and a rational understanding of the proceedings.
- Symptom validity testing
- Use of embedded or stand-alone measures to detect exaggerated or feigned cognitive or psychiatric symptoms during forensic evaluation.
- Jackson v. Indiana
- A ruling that a defendant found permanently incompetent cannot be held indefinitely; confinement must be justified by progress toward competency or other grounds.
- Sell v. United States
- Sets four conditions for involuntary medication solely to restore competency, including important governmental interest and medical appropriateness.
- Risk-need-responsivity
- A correctional treatment model matching intervention intensity to risk, targeting criminogenic needs, and matching treatment style to learning ability.
- Therapeutic jurisprudence
- A framework examining how legal rules, procedures, and roles affect the psychological well-being of those involved in the legal system.
- Washington v. Harper
- A ruling that a competent inmate has a protected liberty interest in refusing antipsychotic medication absent dangerousness or a valid treatment rationale.
- Informed consent elements
- Capacity to decide, disclosure of risks, benefits, and alternatives, voluntariness, and documentation of the agreement.
- Tarasoff duty
- A duty to protect identifiable third parties from a client's serious threat of violence, which may include warning or other protective steps.
- Privilege ownership
- The legal right to withhold confidential communications belongs to the client and can be waived by the client or holder.
- Test data vs materials
- Ethics codes distinguish releasing a client's raw data from protecting secure test materials such as items and manuals.
- M'Naghten test
- An insanity standard excusing a defendant who, due to mental disease, did not know the nature of the act or that it was wrong.
- ALI insanity test
- The Model Penal Code standard excusing conduct when mental disease substantially impairs capacity to appreciate wrongfulness or conform to law.
- Competency vs insanity
- Competency addresses present ability to stand trial; insanity addresses mental state at the time of the offense.
- Miranda trigger
- Custodial interrogation requires warnings and a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver before statements are admissible.
- Addington v. Texas
- Civil commitment requires proof by clear and convincing evidence, a standard between preponderance and beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Testamentary capacity
- Requires understanding the nature of the will, the property, natural heirs, and the plan of distribution at the time of execution.
- Daubert factors
- Admissibility criteria for expert evidence include testability, peer review, known error rate, and general acceptance in the relevant field.
- Forensic evaluator role
- An objective role serving the court rather than the evaluee, requiring disclosure of limits, methods, and alternative explanations.