Forensic Neuropsychology

[PublicHealth]

I have heard from a couple friends of mine who are in clinical psychology Ph.D. programs that forensic neuropsychology is a highly lucrative specialization. They tell me that they know of people who charge $200-350/hour for their services (most referrals come from plaintiffs' attornies who want their clients evaluated for brain injury), and that each evaluation takes 15-20 hours. At this rate, forensic neuropsychologists are making $3,000 to $7,000 PER CASE! So if a neuropsychologist evaluates only 15 clients per year, s/he could potentially make over $100K/year. This seems like really good money to me. Shoot, you could conduct 15 evaluations in a month and then vacation for the remaining 11 months!

Could anyone confirm these numbers or provide any additional information about this sub-field of clinical neuropsychology?

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[PublicHealth]

Forensic neuropsychology is tricky, as is any expert witness gig. You have to set things up so you are and appear objective. You don't want to be type cast as a defense or plaintiff shill. Forensics are competitive. Your rep has to be good. It's not something you can jump into and say, "I wanna do forensic neuropsychology. Show me the money."

What are the steps involved in developing a forensic neuropsychology practice? Is it the number of years in the field, board certification, academic accomplishments, clinical reputation, or all of these factors? It seems to me that the folks who are really successful in forensic neuropsychology are those who do private clinical work. Is this correct? Are there clinical neuropsychologists in academia who have successful forensic practices?

Any information you can provide is helpful. As you can tell, I am new to this field and interested in learning as much as I can. Thank you.

PH

 

[Flutterbyu]

One of my supervisors has a flourishing practice in forensic neuropsycholgy. He has a PhD in clinical and is certified in neuropsych and basically built up his practice doing assessment. He became involved in doing basic neuropsych assessments for the local juvenile detention facilities and once word got out his practice just exploded out of control. The work is coming in at such a rate that he can't possibly keep up and he is training his doctoral interns in neuropsych testing just to help him stay afloat. I happened to see an invoice today for a session of testing (one day- maybe 4 or 5 hours) that was billed at $1600.

That being said, the school I attend has an optional specialization track within its clinical program program (PsyD) in forensics, but it seems to me that this track would be unnecessary. I think post-doc specialization in neuropsych would be the best approach. If you can become really good at neuropsych testing and report writing/interpreting, you will have no lack for work or income.

 

[PublicHealth]

One of my supervisors has a flourishing practice in forensic neuropsycholgy. He has a PhD in clinical and is certified in neuropsych and basically built up his practice doing assessment. He became involved in doing basic neuropsych assessments for the local juvenile detention facilities and once word got out his practice just exploded out of control. The work is coming in at such a rate that he can't possibly keep up and he is training his doctoral interns in neuropsych testing just to help him stay afloat. I happened to see an invoice today for a session of testing (one day- maybe 4 or 5 hours) that was billed at $1600.

That being said, the school I attend has an optional specialization track within its clinical program program (PsyD) in forensics, but it seems to me that this track would be unnecessary. I think post-doc specialization in neuropsych would be the best approach. If you can become really good at neuropsych testing and report writing/interpreting, you will have no lack for work or income.

Thank you for your input. What types of cases does your supervisor evaluate? Also, would you mind sending me (posting here or private message) his contact information? I would like to ask him some questions about forensic applications of clinical neuropsychology. Also, any info that you can provide would be great!

 

[PublicHealth]

bump!

 

[PublicHealth]

I thought you were in the MD camp.

DO camp, but I have an interest in mental health in general, particularly forensic applications within this field -- psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, psychology, neuropsychology. Neuropsychologists seem to be the most sought-after experts in legal cases involving brain injury (one of my areas of interest). I find the idea of quantifying the extent of neurocognitive impairment fascinating (especially since most medically-related mental health fields simply provide qualitative diagnoses), and wish to learn more about it -- perhaps in a fellowship in behavioral neurology or related field. Thank you for your input. By the way, where are you in your training?

 

[Sanman]

Good to see you back Paendrag!

 

[PublicHealth]

I wanted to pass along three good books on forensic neuropsychology:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195158997/103-9017245-3667040?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593851855/103-9017245-3667040?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9026515448/103-9017245-3667040?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

Anyone else with information about this field, please feel free to share them in this thread!