Emotional Damages: Practical Insights into Forensic Psychiatry for Litigating Attorneys

In this episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Mark Levy speaks with Dr. Reema Dedania, forensic psychiatrist, assistant professor of psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine, and associate training director of Emory's forensic psychiatry fellowship — where she also serves as medical director of a jail-based competency restoration unit at Fulton County Jail.

Dr. Dedania explains how large language models — by design pattern-matching, connection-making, and sycophantic — can mirror and amplify the very cognitive distortions that define psychosis, giving rise to the emerging phenomenon of AI-associated psychosis. She describes the "paranoid echo chamber" that AI creates for vulnerable users, walks through the two major categories of AI-related litigation already appearing in courts (suicide and product liability cases), and offers concrete guidance to attorneys on how to approach these cases: accounting for preexisting psychiatric vulnerability, reading chat logs as collateral rather than literal evidence, and understanding causation as a spectrum rather than a simple cause-and-effect chain.

She also shares findings from her own firsthand experiment engaging a chatbot as a paranoid patient — and what the bot's response revealed about the limits of current AI safeguards.
 

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In this episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Mark Levy speaks with Michael L. Fox, managing partner of Duane Morris' San Francisco office and co-chair of the firm's Products Liability and Toxic Torts Division, whose three-decade career spans toxic tort litigation, mass disaster cases, and complex commercial disputes. Fox traces his path from a Wharton finance student diverted by a legal history course into a litigator who built his practice around the "hourglass" theory of career development — starting broad, specializing deeply, then broadening again as expertise compounds. He and Levy revisit the multi-plaintiff gas line explosion case that first brought them together, using it to unpack how forensic psychiatric experts help separate genuine psychiatric injury from "copycat" or "echo chamber" claims, why the eggshell plaintiff rule makes individual vulnerability assessment essential, and how a bell curve of injury severity (rather than a "barbell" of only the most extreme verdicts) should inform case valuation and settlement strategy. Fox also explains why he deliberately seeks forensically trained experts over treating clinicians, offers concrete advice for expert witnesses on avoiding "canned" testimony, and shares his read on the next wave of mass litigation: digital harm and social media addiction claims among adolescents, and whether the underlying psychiatric science is developed enough to survive Daubert scrutiny.

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In this episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Mark Levy speaks with Dr. Charles Scott—triple‑board‑certified in adult, child & adolescent, and forensic psychiatry; past president of AAPL; creator of the UC Davis forensic psychiatry fellowship; and a leading educator and expert in high‑profile cases, including the Parkland school shooter sentencing. Dr. Scott discusses how he trains fellows to think like forensic “psychopathologists,” marshal evidence, integrate structured psychological and malingering tests, and build opinions that withstand cross‑examination in insanity, competency, brain injury, and child trauma cases. He also shares lessons from serving on a criminal jury himself, his ethical reasoning in capital cases, and practical guidance for attorneys on what records and data they should always obtain.

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In the Season 2 premiere of Emotional Damages, host Dr. Mark Levy speaks with Dr. Joy Stankowski, a dual-trained internal medicine and psychiatry forensic psychiatrist with over 20 years of experience, more than 1,000 evaluations, and deep expertise in hospital systems and standards of care. Dr. Stankowski explains how her medical-psychiatric background informs high-stakes criminal and emotional damages evaluations, why experts must approach records with an open mind, and communicate early and candidly with counsel when opinions diverge from case theories. She also discusses her work as a federal surveyor for CMS and offers attorneys a practical roadmap for collaborating with forensic experts, organizing records, and analyzing system-level problems in standard of care litigation.

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This episode of Emotional Damages features Dr. Mark Levy, fpamed Medical Director and forensic psychiatrist,  in conversation with Dr. Michelle Ward—psychologist, neuroscientist, and acclaimed crime documentary and podcast host. Dr. Ward shares her pioneering research on psychopathy, the biological and environmental roots of violent offending, and the evolving science of predicting predatory behavior. From her groundbreaking MRI studies on murderers to her consulting work on high-profile criminal trials, Dr. Ward offers lawyers and forensic professionals a rare insider’s perspective on where cutting-edge brain science meets the real world of criminal litigation.

Dr. Ward also hosts two highly regarded podcasts: The Mind of a Murderer and Look Who’s Stalking, where she continues to explore the psychology and science behind the world’s most complex criminal minds.

Key Topics Discussed:

• How brain imaging and neuroscience are reshaping our understanding of psychopathy and criminal behavior
• Genetic and environmental influences on violent and predatory conduct
• Key findings from the Southern California Twin Project
• Challenges and ethics of profiling “future risk” in children and adults
• Behind-the-scenes of crime documentaries and real-world expert consulting

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In this episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Ambarin Faizi sits down with Dr. Ashley VanDercar, fpamed forensic psychiatry associate, to explore how experts assess two of the most complex and high-stakes issues in forensic psychiatry: malingering and violence risk. Together, they explore the intricacies of malingering assessments and the importance of comprehensive record reviews. Dr. VanDercar then provides nuanced insights into violence risk factors, particularly in the context of severe mental illness. The episode concludes with practical advice for attorneys on effective collaboration with forensic psychiatric experts, emphasizing the synergy between legal context and psychiatric evaluation.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Potential presentations of malingering (pure, partial, or false imputation)
• How experts seek to differentiate genuine symptoms from feigned or exaggerated ones
• The notion of violence risk factors, and how experts assess violence risk
• Why attorney–expert collaboration strengthens the precision of forensic opinions

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Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual violence and paraphilic disorders. Listener discretion is advised. The content may be distressing or triggering for some listeners.

In this episode, Dr. Ambarin Faizi is joined by Dr. Brian Holoyda, Chief Psychiatrist for Contra Costa County’s detention facilities and an internationally recognized expert on paraphilic disorders and sexual violence risk assessment. The conversation guides attorneys through the complexities of forensic assessments in sexually violent predator (SVP) cases, paraphilic disorder diagnosis, and the pivotal role of standardized risk assessment tools.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The distinction between paraphilias and paraphilic disorders in psychiatric diagnosis
• Critical elements and instruments in sexual violence risk assessment: Static-99R, SVR-20, Stable-2007
• How legal decisions hinge on psychiatric diagnoses and structured risk evaluations
• Comparisons between U.S. and international forensic psychiatric practice
• Attorney strategies for challenging or supporting risk assessment findings in court

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In this episode of Emotional Damages, host Dr. Ambarin Faizi sits down with Dr. Paul Elizondo, a triple board-certified psychiatrist in General, Child & Adolescent, and Forensic Psychiatry. Dr. Elizondo breaks down how trauma manifests differently depending on age and developmental stage, how preexisting conditions (like ADHD or learning disorders) can shape recovery, and why careful forensic interviewing is essential to maintaining reliability. 

Attorneys will gain insights into evaluating credibility, understanding concepts like “child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome,” and appreciating the lifelong impact untreated trauma can have on both individuals and outcomes in litigation.

Key Topics Discussed:

• How childhood trauma looks in a 5-year-old versus a 15-year-old
• The influence of parents’ trauma responses on child recovery
• Preexisting vulnerabilities vs. resilience factors in trauma cases
• The pitfalls of poor forensic interviewing and how it influences credibility
• The role of forensic psychiatry in sentencing and diversion programs
• Why attorney awareness of trauma-informed approaches is critical in litigation

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In this special bonus episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Ambarin Faizi brings together lessons from two powerhouse experts—Dr. Shafi Lodhi, forensic psychiatrist and neurologist, and Dr. Howard Friedman, board-certified forensic neuropsychologist—to break down the complexities of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in litigation.

Key topics discussed include:

• How TBI affects cognition, mood, and behavior
• Why testing and imaging don’t always align
• How experts assess malingering in brain injury claims
• The intersection of neurology and psychology in forensic evaluations
• Red flags attorneys should watch for in TBI reports

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In this episode of Emotional Damages, Dr. Ambarin Faizi welcomes Dr. Howard Friedman, board-certified neuropsychologist and clinical psychologist with over 12,000 evaluations to his name. Together, they explore the role of psychological and neuropsychological testing in litigation, from emotional injuries to cognitive impairments.

Key topics discussed include:

• The difference between psychological and neuropsychological assessments
• How malingering and effort are objectively detected
• The Rorschach’s value (and controversy) in forensic cases
• Common tools like the MMPI, PAI, and WMS-IV
• How to evaluate testamentary capacity and undue influence
• Why test security matters—and what’s at stake in California law

Dr. Howard Friedman is a board-certified neuropsychologist and clinical psychologist with fpamed. He has completed over 12,000 psychological and neuropsychological evaluations in civil, criminal, and testamentary matters. A past president of the Northern California Neuropsychology Forum, Dr. Friedman has also held numerous leadership roles in local and state psychological associations.

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