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‘No Shred of Evidence,’ A Talk with Charles Todd

February 22, 2016 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

Charles Todd

Who is Charles Todd?

If you aren’t familiar with “his” many previous novels, you might be surprised to learn Charles Todd is the mother-and-son writing team of Charles and Caroline Todd.

Caroline has a BA in English Literature and History, as well as a Master’s degree in International Relations. Charles has a BA in Communications Studies, and a culinary arts degree.

No Shred of Evidence, the 18th Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, takes place on the north coast of Cornwall, where four young women are boating on the River Camel. They see a young man on another boat that appears to be sinking. While making a valiant effort to save him, he’s struck on the head by an oar. An eyewitness, a local farmer, accuses the women of attempted murder. Ian Rutledge is called in to review the case. Since the victim is in a coma, there’s no one to refute the eyewitness’s account. Rutledge must deal with competing forces in trying to determine if the women tried to hurt the young man, and what may have motivated them. Other complications arise, and very little is what it seemed to be as the investigation reveals long buried issues and likely motivations.

Read more on the Huffington Post >>

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Filed Under: About Books, book launch, crime, Huffington Post Column Tagged With: collaborative writing, English history, historical novels, mystery, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, shell shock, surivior's guilt

‘Violent Crimes,’ A Conversation with Phillip Margolin

February 10, 2016 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

2016-02-09-1455022427-6466258-PhillipMargoliscrAnthonyGeorgis-thumbPhillip Margolin, a former criminal defense attorney who defended thirty murder cases, has written many New York Times bestsellers. He is well-known for his Amanda Jaffe and Brad Miller series, and for his many standalone novels.

Violent Crimes is the next novel in the Amanda Jaffe series. Amanda is involved in a complex case involving environmentalists, Big Oil, financial fraud, and murder. Not only must she determine who murdered two attorneys while defending the men accused of the crimes; but also faces the most difficult professional decision of her life.

Read more on the Huffington Post >>

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Filed Under: About Books, courtroom drama, Huffington Post Column Tagged With: courtroom thrillers, ethics in the courtroom, legal thrillers, perjury, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, procrastination, search warrants

A Shot in the Dark

February 15, 2014 by Mark Rubinstein Leave a Comment

It was 5:00 PM on a cold winter evening. I’d testified at a Workers’ Compensation hearing and was walking toward my car with an attorney. We were the only two people on a lonely, narrow street. The stores were shuttered. The neighborhood was in a devastated section of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Suddenly, coming from across the street and down the block, we heard the cracks of two shots from a small-caliber pistol.

Read more on Psychology Today >>

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Filed Under: Mark Rubinstein, Psychology Today Columns Tagged With: gun shots. holdup, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, psychiatric discorder, surgery

Diagnosis by Popular Belief

October 17, 2013 by Mark Rubinstein

It’s vitally important to apply correct diagnoses to serious psychiatric illnesses. When the media disseminate improper diagnoses, a grave disservice is done to people who suffer from these disorders.

By now, most of us know about the car chase that occurred near the U.S. Capitol. A 34 year old woman was shot and killed after leading police on a high-speed chase when she tried to ram a White House gate.

According to a report, Miriam Carey believed she was the “prophet of Stamford” and could communicate with President Obama. The report stated Ms. Carey told police in December 2012 “President Obama had placed Stamford on lockdown and had arranged to have her home electronically monitored, and her life was broadcast on television.” (Ibid).

Her mother told ABC news her daughter “had been hospitalized after suffering post-partum depression.” Soon afterwards, media reports stated Ms. Carey suffered from this disorder.

While I never examined Ms. Carey, I felt the diagnosis of Post-partum depression was wrong. Post-partum Depression involves social withdrawal, sadness, and loss of interest in the baby, as well as in other activities. Believing she was the “prophet of Stamford” and her home was monitored while her life was being broadcast on television, made it very likely the correct diagnosis for Ms. Carey was Schizophrenia. In addition, the previously mentioned article noted Ms. Carey had a family history of Schizophrenia, which has a familial distribution. The report also stated that in December 2012, her boyfriend called police to report she was “off her medication” and acting erratically. It’s important to note the overwhelming majority of Schizophrenic patients are not violent.

Another report published a day after the incident said, “Authorities searching the home of a Connecticut woman who rammed barricades and led police on a chase near the U.S. Capitol found discharge papers from a 2012 mental health evaluation that listed prescriptions to treat schizophrenia and other mental disorders…” http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/politics/u-s-capitol-shooting/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular.

Psychiatrically, the grandiose and paranoid delusions from which Ms. Carey suffered are typical of certain Schizophrenic syndromes. The article noted that police searching Ms. Carey’s home found risperidone, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat Schizophrenia. While she may have suffered from Post-partum Depression (superimposed on Schizophrenia), the pathology described thereafter is not remotely that of Post-partum Depression.

Diagnostic labels such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-partum Depression are often applied indiscriminately by people with no mental health training. In the rush to be the first to provide updates on breaking news, the media seizes upon such comments and propagates them as fact. By the time such misinformation is corrected, the damage has already been done.

This is not simply a matter of semantics or incorrect nomenclature. Combat veterans and others who suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder are improperly branded as potentially dangerous.
The media have an obligation to refrain from disseminating flawed information so it doesn’t become popular belief.

Mark Rubinstein
Author of Mad Dog House and Love Gone Mad

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Filed Under: Mark Rubinstein Tagged With: Connecticut, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, psychiatric illnesses, Schizophrenic syndromes, White House gate

The Man in the Box

August 7, 2013 by Mark Rubinstein

 

Some years ago, I was contacted by an attorney and asked to evaluate his client, the plaintiff in a lawsuit. I’ll call her Mrs. Jones, a 35-year-old widow, who was suing a funeral home.

A year earlier, her presumably healthy 40-year-old husband, died suddenly of a massive heart attack while at the gym.

At our consultation, Mrs. Jones was obviously bereaved and quite sad. This was not out of the ordinary, because the bereavement process often takes a full two years. But, what was severely complicating this process; occasioning the lawsuit; and bringing her to my office was the following unusual story:

Read more on Psychology Today >>

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Filed Under: Psychology Today Columns Tagged With: bereaved, court case, funeral home, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, psychology, widow

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