Avoiding Overstatement in Immigration Psychiatric Evaluations

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Immigration and Trauma

An immigration psychiatric report carries weight precisely because it stays inside what psychiatry can actually establish. The reports that collapse on cross-examination are almost always the ones that say more than the data support—treating a trauma-consistent presentation as if it proved the events that allegedly caused it. What the evaluation can and cannot establish A forensic psychiatric examination in an immigration matter can describe a presentation, assign a diagnosis where the criteria are met, and assess whether that presentation is consistent with the history the applicant reports. What it cannot do is independently verify that the reported events occurred. Consistency runs in one

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