Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “MALINGERING”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,621 records · Page 90Linked to original sources

Feigned bereavement: twelve cases.

Twelve patients who feigned bereavement are described. Most appeared depressed on admission, and in over half bereavement was erroneously believed by staff to be an important cause of their depression. This type of behaviour, leading to admission to hospital, may be regarded as abnormal illness behaviour, and reasons are given for considering most of the cases as variants of the Münchausen syndrome. Motivation for these deceptions is discussed, and reference is made to features which might arouse suspicion that bereavement is feigned.

Adult↗

The Münchausen syndrome as a psychiatric condition.

In this presentation of two cases it is suggested that many Münchausen syndrome patients present with psychiatric symptoms. This syndrome, however, should be differentiated from other clinical psychiatric conditions.

Adult↗

Stalking: false claims of victimisation.

BACKGROUND: False allegations of victimisation although uncommon are important to recognise. This paper examines those who falsely claim to have been the victims of stalking. AIMS: To highlight the phenomenon of false victims of stalking. METHOD: Twelve individuals who falsely claimed to be victims of stalking were compared with a group of 100 true stalking victims. RESULTS: False stalking victims presented for help earlier than real victims and were less likely to claim harassment via letters. They reported equivalent levels of violence directed at themselves but seldom claimed others were attacked. Five types of false claimants were recognisable. False victims consumed more medical services than genuine stalking victims and they were more likely to be embroiled in legal action. They reported similar levels of distress with suicidal ruminations in over 40%. CONCLUSIONS: The current interest in stalking is promoting false claims of being stalked. Early identification of these cases and appropriate intervention are essential to both minimising abuses of resources available to true victims and equally to ensure appropriate care for those who express their own disordered state in false claims of victimisation.

Adult↗

Analysis of the statistical methods used to detect submaximal effort with the five-rung grip strength test.

Controversy exists in the literature concerning the ability of the five-rung grip test to identify submaximal effort. The purpose of this study was to analyze four methods commonly used to evaluate the shape of the curve generated by maximal versus submaximal efforts. Thirty hand therapy patients performed the five-rung grip test maximally and submaximally with both their injured and uninjured hands. Grip strength scores were recorded at each of the five-rung positions. Next, four methods were used to analyze the data 1) visual analysis, 2) analysis of variance, 3) normalization, and 4) calculation of the standard deviation across the five strength scores. Analysis by all methods demonstrated that there were no differences between the injured hand exerting maximal effort and the uninjured hand exerting submaximal effort. In all four methods, the five-rung grip strength test was unable to distinguish between the injured hand exerting maximal effort and the uninjured hand exerting submaximal effort. The results suggest that the five-rung grip strength test should not be used to determine sincerity of effort in people with hand injuries, and that the shape of the curve generated by the five-rung grip strength test may not be related to level of effort but rather to the amount of force generated by the gripping hand.

Adolescent↗

An examination of the California Verbal Learning Test II to detect incomplete effort in a traumatic brain-injury sample.

Clinical neuropsychologists are frequently called on to distinguish people who appear impaired on neuropsychological testing due to putting forth incomplete effort from those who have genuine cognitive deficits. Because traditional measures of effort are becoming accessible over the Internet and within the legal community and their purpose may be obvious to potential malingerers, nontraditional effort measures have been newly investigated. Using discriminant function analysis, this study explores whether five California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) variables could differentiate between head-injured patients who were putting forth full effort and those who were putting forth incomplete effort. The discriminant function seemed to best predict those who put forth adequate effort while testing (95.6% correct) but not those who failed to put forth adequate effort during testing (only 13.8% correct). Hence, although the overall classification rate was moderately impressive (75.8%), the model's sensitivity in classification of the incomplete effort group was low. Cautious applications for these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Simulation of brain damage on the Bender-Gestalt test by college subjects.

The study found that nonbraindamaged college subjects could not simulate organicity on the Bender-Gestalt test when instructed to do so. Although Pascal-Suttell and Canter scoring methods failed to differentiate malingerers from an organic criterion group, an ABPP clinician sorted 89% of the records correctly in a pilot study. Differentiating criteria were then spelled out from the pilot study protocols. In the main study the expert clinician correctly identified all 20 malingerers. Subsequent studies of intra- and inter-rater reliability produced satisfactory results.

Adolescent↗

MMPI validity measures: a comparative study of original with alternative indices.

A comparison was made of the original MMPI validity scales (L,F,K,F - K) with validity scales devised subsequently (TR, Ca, Ds, Mp, Ws - Wo) to determine which scales, the older or newer, were better, either alone or combined, in detecting fake-good, fake-bad, and careless responding. This was accomplished by having groups of subjects answer the MMPI first under standard conditions and then, 1 week later, under one of the falsifying conditions. A group of 40 psychiatric patients responded under standard and then fake-good conditions; a group of 40 university students responded under standard and then fake-bad conditions; and a group of 20 students responded under standard and then fake-careless conditions. Results indicate that both the traditional and newer validity indices were equally good at detecting fake-good responding. None of the indices was adequate in detecting careless responses. We conclude, as a consequence of this study, that the newer scales perform a clinically useful function when faking good is suspected on the MMPI.

Adolescent↗

Feigning specific disorders: a study of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI).

The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) represents an important development in the assessment of psychopathology. We examined the usefulness of the Negative Impression (NIM) scale to detect naive (undergraduates with minimal preparation) and sophisticated (psychology graduate students with 1 week preparation) subjects simulating specific disorders. We found that the NIM cutting score (> 8) was highly effective with feigned schizophrenia, marginally effective with feigned depression, and ineffective with feigned generalized anxiety disorder. Sophistication did not appear to be relevant to successful feigning, although it did allow graduate students to achieve higher clinical elevations in simulating depression.

Anxiety Disorders↗

Psychological profiles distinguishing litigating and nonlitigating pain patients: subtle, and not so subtle.

Chronic pain patients in the midst of litigation over settlement for their injuries were examined as a naturally occurring group where one might expect various distortions or differences in test findings on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Revised (MMPI-2). Similar groups of 43 chronic pain patients in litigation and 45 not in litigation were examined on 10 key MMPI-2 variables selected a priori. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between groups (p = .036). Litigators were most distinct in endorsing more obvious and fewer subtle symptoms. A conversion profile was also more salient for litigators once the obvious versus subtle differences were taken into account. Implications for use of the MMPI-2 and for clinical work with litigious patients are examined.

Adolescent↗

Comparison of MCMI-II and 16PF validity scales.

We administered the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II; Millon, 1987) and the Sixteen Personality Factors Inventory (16PF; Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) to 131 outpatients in marital therapy and tested the correlation between the validity scales of the two instruments. The results indicated that MCMI-II Disclosure and Debasement scales were positively correlated with the 16PF Fake-Bad scale and negatively correlated with the 16PF Fake-Good scale. The MCMI-II Desirability scale was significantly correlated with the 16PF Fake-Good scale.

Adult↗

Detection of feigned mental disorders on the personality assessment inventory: a discriminant analysis.

Psychological assessment with multiscale inventories is largely dependent on the honesty and forthrightness of those persons evaluated. We investigated the effectiveness of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in detecting participants feigning three specific disorders: schizophrenia, major depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. With a simulation design, we tested the PAI validity scales on 166 naive (undergraduates with minimal preparation) and 80 sophisticated (doctoral psychology students with 1 week preparation) participants. We compared their results to persons with the designated disorders: schizophrenia (n = 45), major depression (n = 136), and generalized anxiety disorder (n = 40). Although moderately effective with naive simulators, the validity scales evidenced only modest positive predictive power with their sophisticated counterparts. Therefore, we performed a two-stage discriminant analysis that yielded a moderately high hit rate (> 80%) that was maintained in the cross-validation sample, irrespective of the feigned disorder or the sophistication of the simulators.

Adult↗

Symptom overreporting in combat veterans evaluated for PTSD: differentiation on the basis of compensation seeking status.

We examined the role of compensation-seeking status on response patterns to self-report inventories of acute psychopathology and psychological distress in a group of 165 combat veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center. Veterans completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Revised, Beck Depression Inventory, Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD, a fixed-response format version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and Impact of Events Scale as part of a standard assessment battery. Results showed that compensation-seeking veterans endorsed dramatically higher levels of psychopathology across measures and produced sharply elevated "fake-bad" validity indices as compared to non-compensation-seeking veterans. Differences between the two groups on most scales and indices exceeded effect sizes of 1.0, even when effects of income, global assessment of functioning, and clinician-rated severity of PTSD were controlled for. It is suggested that the availability of VA disability compensation for combat-related PTSD impedes accurate initial assessment of veterans presenting for treatment and may impair estimation of long-term therapeutic outcome in this population.

Bias↗