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A piercing and darkly funny account of life as a forensic psychiatrist
About the author
Dr Sohom Das is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, working in prisons, secure hospitals and criminal courts, assessing and rehabilitating mentally ill offenders. He works as an expert witness in criminal and civil court cases. On his YouTube channel, A Psych for Sore Minds (youtube.com/apsychforsoreminds), he dissects a multitude of criminal cases and mental-health topics, covering diagnoses such as schizophrenia and PTSD, and offences from arson to murder.
In between work, creating YouTube videos and parenting his two young sons, he occasionally dabbles in stand-up comedy and battle-rapping on TV.
Summary
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das diagnoses, treats and rehabilitates mentally ill offenders - or the 'criminally insane' - in prisons and secure hospitals, many of whom have committed serious violence, some even murder. He is also an expert witness, and advises on insanity or diminished responsibility pleas - to either steer the incapacitated, the vulnerable and voiceless away from a lifetime of incarceration towards recovery, or literally let them get away with murder.
In this book, Dr Das tells the untold story of forensic psychiatry during his 15 years as a psychiatric doctor, and what happens when an underfunded institution like this breaks - and how he's learned to live with his mistakes when the worse happens. He also writes very personally and movingly about the abundant tragedy he has encountered in real-life cases, and the human cost of violence caused by mental illness.
Foreword
A piercing and darkly funny account of life as a forensic psychiatrist
