When Patients Overreport Symptoms: More Than Just Malingering

Harald L. G. J. Merckelbach · Brechje Dandachi‐FitzGerald · Daniël H. J. van Helvoort · Marko Jelícic · Henry Otgaar

79 citations0/0 files storedCurrent Directions in Psychological Science

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Psychological Testing and Assessment Psychometric Methodologies and Testing Deception detection and forensic psychology

Abstract

Mental-health patients may report more symptoms than they actually experience. Experts and laypeople often view this overreporting as a sign of malingering. We show that there are multiple pathways to symptom overreporting: carryover effects from previous tests that lower the threshold for answering affirmatively to symptom items, suggestive misinformation that escalates symptom reports, inattentive responding that promotes indiscriminate endorsement of symptoms, and personality traits that bias symptom reports in an upward direction. A one-sided focus on malingering may distract from a research agenda that may contribute to knowledge accumulation in this domain.

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References

2013Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2012Identifying careless responses in survey data.2021The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.2000The Test of Memory Malingering 2 (TOMM-2)

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