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World J Meta-Anal. Feb 28, 2021; 9(1): 45-50
Published online Feb 28, 2021. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v9.i1.45
Magic and forensic psychiatry: A case study and review of the literature
Gentian Vyshka, Sandër Simoni
Gentian Vyshka, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana 1005, Albania
Sandër Simoni, Law and Jurisprudence, Albanian School of Magistrates, Tirana 1005, Albania
Author contributions: Vyshka G and Simoni S collected data, drafted the manuscript, reviewed the literature and wrote the final version; both authors approved the initial and the revised manuscript in its present form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Nothing to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gentian Vyshka, MD, Professor, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Rr. Dibres 371, Tirana 1005, Albania. gvyshka@gmail.com
Received: December 26, 2020
Peer-review started: December 26, 2020
First decision: January 18, 2021
Revised: January 24, 2021
Accepted: February 22, 2021
Article in press: February 22, 2021
Published online: February 28, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Belief in magic and spelling objects (witchcraft) are rarely object of the prosecutors’ investigations, a fact that may be related to the public abhorrence of the phenomenon itself. Family is a highly vulnerable setting, when there are no compensatory mechanisms for altercations and everyday quarrels. Such complicated cases cannot be resolved without the help of forensic psychiatrists, whose role remains multifaceted and of particular importance.