Assessment of Malingering With Repeat Forensic Evaluations: Patient Variability and Possible Misclassification on the SIRS and Other Feigning Measures

Rogers, R., Vitacco, M. and Kurus, S. (2009), Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry Law, 38:109–14

Malingering is conceptualized as a specific response style to an adverse set of circumstances. As a situational response style, malingering is not viewed as a stable trait or enduring characteristic of feigning individuals.
This brief analysis addresses a critical concern of repeat forensic evaluations. Does the marked variability in clinical presentation, common among patients with genuine psychotic and other Axis I diagnoses, lead to false-positive findings (misclassifying genuine patients as malingerers) on repeat administration of feigning measures? Such grave errors could lead to unwarranted conclusions about malingering and undermine the foundation of a forensic report.

http://www.jaapl.org/content/38/1/109.full.pdf+html?sid=54704ff9-0992-426b-b325-…