Public skepticism: forensic psychiatry's albatross.

Many readers will recall a provocative Oliphant cartoon, which was circulated nationally and seen on the editorial pages of our newspapers during the 1976 Patricia Hearst trial. It caricatures the essence of our plight. Consider again its portrayal of a white-bearded defense psychiatrist gliding into the courtroom balanced precariously on roller skates; with a propellered beanie on his head, a long-stemmed flower clenched between his teeth, and a decorative scarf trailing grandly from his scrawny neck. I remember many smiles from my friends, snickers from my surgical and internist acquaintances, and much embarrassed handwringing from my psychiatrist colleagues along with the plaintive remark, "Here we go again .... " The joke has something serious to say to our profession about its general reputation. As recent nationwide public opinion polls have repeatedly demonstrated, psychiatrists have earned less public confidence than physicians in general. I .:?