![handle is hein.journals/psyinjl4 and id is 1 raw text is: Psychol. Inj. and Law (2011) 4:1-12
DOI 10.1007/s 12207-011-9097-0
The Detection of Feigned Psychiatric Disorders
Using the MMPI-2-RF Overreporting Validity Scales:
An Analog Investigation
Brandee E. Marion - Martin Sellbom-
R. Michael Bagby
Received: 15 October 2010 /Accepted: 20 December 2010 /Published online: 9 February 2011
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2011
Abstract Individuals who are motivated to feign psycho-
logical problems to achieve a desired outcome (e.g.,
insanity defense) may overreport symptoms of psychopa-
thology, with type of pathology being dependent on the
setting. In the current investigation, we examined the utility
of the overreporting validity scales (infrequent responses
[F-r], infrequent psychopathology responses [FP-r], infre-
quent somatic responses [Fs], and symptom validity
[FBS-r]) on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-2-Restructured Form (Ben-Porath and Tellegen
2008) to detect research participants instructed to simulate
one of three mental disorders: major depressive disorder
(MDD), schizophrenia (SCH), or post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). The restructured clinical (RC) and over-
reporting validity scale scores of bona fide psychiatric
patients with a primary diagnosis of either MDD, SCH, or
PTSD were compared to two groups of simulators-naive
(i.e., undergraduate students with no training in mental
disorders) and sophisticated (i.e., individuals with advanced
training in psychopathology or personal experience with the
disorder asked to overreport symptoms). Examination of the
RC Scale profiles revealed that the sophisticated simulators
produced symptom profiles more similar to the profiles of
the psychiatric patients than did the naive simulators. For the
overreporting validity scales, the sophisticated simulators
were less likely to be detected as feigning compared to the
naive simulators; overall, the validity scales were able to
B. E. Marion - M. Sellbom (W)
The University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
e-mail: msellbom@ua.edu
R. M. Bagby
University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada
distinguish patients from simulators and accurately classify
most of the simulators regardless of their level of symptom
sophistication. Examination and comparison of the validity
scales revealed that across disorders and level of research
participant symptom sophistication, the Fp-r scale best
differentiated simulators from patients.
Keywords MMPI-2-RF - Malingering - Overreporting
Validity scales - Schizophrenia - Depression - PTSD
Response bias is a key factor for consideration in
psychological assessments, especially in situations in which
individuals may be motivated to present themselves in an
overly positive (e.g., custody proceedings or personnel
selection) or an excessively negative light (e.g., social
security disability claims or prison sentence hearings;
Sellbom and Bagby 2008). In instances where one is
motivated to overreport or even fabricate emotional and
psychological difficulties, some individuals may choose to
overreport or feign symptoms characteristic of certain
psychological disorders as dictated by the particular
context. For example, in insurance disability evaluations,
a claimant may be more likely to feign depression (e.g.,
major depressive disorder [MDD]) or post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) in order to maximize the viability and
success of their claim. In the forensic criminal context,
those charged or convicted may choose to feign psychosis
(e.g., schizophrenia [SCH]) in order to diminish or even
escape criminal act culpability. When individuals overre-
port symptoms of psychopathology in these types of
situations, it can result in unnecessary costs (e.g., treatment
and compensation), burden (e.g., devotion of resources for
assessment and treatment), and risk to society (e.g.,
placement of high-risk offenders in a lower-level security
mental health facility; Friel et al. 2008; Iverson et al. 1995).
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