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Diagnoses in Child Custody Evaluation Reports

By David A. Martindale

Thomas Szasz, best known for having written The Myth of Mental Illness, in 1961, observed, in a subsequent book (The Second Sin, 1973), that diagnoses “may be, and often are, swung as semantic blackjacks ' ” (p. 71). Szasz added that “ the man who wields a blackjack is recognized by everyone as a thug, but the one who wields a psychiatric diagnosis is not” (p. 71). The diagnosis-blackjack should be removed from the arsenal of weapons used by litigants in custody disputes.

In his “Reference Guide on Mental Health Evidence,” found in the Federal Judicial Center's Third Edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Paul S. Appelbaum opines: “A diagnosis of mental disorder per se will almost never settle the legal question in a case in which mental health evidence is presented” (p. 819). He explains that “the ultimate legal issue usually will turn on the impact of the mental disorder on the person's functional abilities” (p. 820). In order to clarify what is meant by the words “functional abilities,” Appelbaum offers some examples. One of those is “skill as a parent” (p. 820).

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