The emergence of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020 presented new and urgent challenges to mental health services and legislators around the world. This special issue of the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry explores mental health law, mental capacity law, and medical and legal ethics in the context of COVID-19. Papers are drawn from India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, and the United States. Together, these articles demonstrate the complexity of psychiatric and legal issues prompted by COVID-19 in terms of providing mental health care, protecting rights, exercising decision-making capacity, and a range of other topics. While further work is needed in many of these areas, these papers provide a strong framework for addressing key issues and meeting the challenges that COVID-19 and, possibly, other outbreaks are likely to present in the future.

Mobile health (mHealth) apps are becoming much more widely available. As more patients learn about and download apps, clinicians are sure to face more questions about the role these apps can play in treatment. Clinicians thus need to familiarize themselves with the clinical and legal risks that apps may introduce. Regulatory rules and organizations that oversee the safety and efficacy of mHealth apps are currently fragmentary in nature and clinicians should pay special attention to categories of apps which are currently exempt from significant regulation. Uniform HIPAA protection does not apply to personal health data that are shared with apps in many contexts which creates a number of clinically relevant privacy and security concerns. Clinicians should also consider several relatively novel potential adverse clinical outcomes and liability concerns that may be relevant to specific categories of apps, including apps that target (i) medication adherence, (ii) collection of self-reported data, (iii) collection of passive data, and (iv) generation of treatment recommendations for psychotherapeutic and behavioral interventions. Considering these potential pitfalls (and disclosing them to patients as a part of obtaining informed consent) is necessary as clinicians consider incorporating apps into treatment.

AABERRANT BEHAVIOR: Irregular behavior that deviates from what is considered normal.The use of the term implies that the behavior in question is performed in secret and mainly for reasons of selfinterest, as for example in the case of certain unusual sexual practices.ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR: A type of behavior that is used to adjust to another type of behavior or situation.This is often characterized by a type of behavior that allows an individual to change an unconstructive or disruptive behavior to something more constructive.ADDICTION-BASED IMPAIRMENT: Brain damage is a common and potentially severe consequence of long-term, heavy substance abuse that specifically involves the impairment of cognitive functioningmental activities related to acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using information.ADDICTION MEDICINE: A medical specialty that deals with the treatment of addiction.Incorporated within the specialty are the processes of detoxification, rehabilitation, harm reduction, abstinence-based treatment, individual and group therapies, oversight of halfway houses, treatment of withdrawal-related symptoms, acute intervention, relapse prevention, and long-term therapies designed to fortify recovery.

Free Access Appendix D: Sample Reports Eric Y. Drogin, Eric Y. DroginSearch for more papers by this authorFrank M. Dattilio, Frank M. DattilioSearch for more papers by this authorRobert L. Sadoff, Robert L. SadoffSearch for more papers by this authorThomas G. Gutheil, Thomas G. GutheilSearch for more papers by this author Book Author(s):Eric Y. Drogin, Eric Y. DroginSearch for more papers by this authorFrank M. Dattilio, Frank M. DattilioSearch for more papers by this authorRobert L. Sadoff, Robert L. SadoffSearch for more papers by this authorThomas G. Gutheil, Thomas G. GutheilSearch for more papers by this author First published: 18 July 2011 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118093399.app4 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Handbook of Forensic Assessment: Psychological and Psychiatric Perspectives RelatedInformation