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Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: October 29, 2021

October 29, 2021

Yale Psychiatry Grand Rounds: October 29, 2021

 .
  • 00:00For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mike.
  • 00:02Norco in the law and psychiatry division,
  • 00:05and it is my great pleasure today
  • 00:07to be able to introduce our speaker.
  • 00:10Doctor Richard Rogers is a
  • 00:12Regents professor of psychology
  • 00:13at the University of North Texas.
  • 00:16He is with us this semester as a
  • 00:18visiting professor at the Yale
  • 00:20School of Medicine in the law
  • 00:22and Psychiatry division at CMHC.
  • 00:24His past academic appointments
  • 00:26include the section on psychiatry
  • 00:28and law at Rush University and the
  • 00:31Division of Forensic Psychiatry
  • 00:33at the University of Toronto.
  • 00:35Doctor Rogers earned a Bachelor of
  • 00:37Science in Education and English
  • 00:38Literature from Worcester State College,
  • 00:41a Masters in counseling psychology
  • 00:43from Assumption College, and his pH.
  • 00:45D from Utah State University.
  • 00:47He is a diplomat of the American
  • 00:50Board of Forensic Psychology and
  • 00:52is an internationally renowned
  • 00:54expert in forensic psychology.
  • 00:56He is one of the most influential
  • 00:58scholars in forensic psychology and
  • 01:00psychiatry with an H index of 81 and I-10.
  • 01:03Index of 254.
  • 01:05Doctor Rogers has 229 peer reviewed
  • 01:09publications going back to 1975 and is
  • 01:12the author of 65 books and book chapters.
  • 01:16He has won numerous prestigious awards,
  • 01:18including the Amicus Award from the American
  • 01:21Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Apple,
  • 01:23for distinguished contributions
  • 01:25to forensic psychiatry.
  • 01:27The Manfred Gumaca reward of the
  • 01:29Apea and Apple for outstanding
  • 01:31contribution to the forensic literature
  • 01:34for his book clinical assessment
  • 01:36of malingering and deception.
  • 01:38And the Applied Research Award
  • 01:40and the Public Policy award of the
  • 01:43American Psychology Association
  • 01:45for his distinguished professional
  • 01:47contributions to the field.
  • 01:48Only the third psychologist ever
  • 01:51to win both awards,
  • 01:53Doctor Rogers is a pioneer in the
  • 01:55rigorous validation of forensic
  • 01:56assessment instruments.
  • 01:58He is best known for his validation
  • 02:00of the structured interview of
  • 02:02reported symptoms, the service,
  • 02:04and the Service 2.
  • 02:06He has recently completed a decade
  • 02:09of NSF funded research on Miranda
  • 02:11warnings and reasoning.
  • 02:13Dr.
  • 02:13Rogers has presented all over the
  • 02:15world on a variety of topics related
  • 02:17to forensic psychology and the law,
  • 02:19especially malingering and fainting,
  • 02:21and his recent work on jury deception
  • 02:25and understanding of Miranda warnings.
  • 02:27**** has been with us in Lawrence
  • 02:30Psychiatry since early September and
  • 02:31we have all profited from his talks,
  • 02:33insights and suggestions,
  • 02:35especially to our research groups
  • 02:38and trainees.
  • 02:39We are looking forward to his
  • 02:41presentation today on clinical advances
  • 02:42in the assessment of malingering.
  • 02:50Thank you so much for such a
  • 02:53wonderful introduction. It's been
  • 02:56really a great pleasure to be here
  • 02:57for the last several months.
  • 03:01I have no trying
  • 03:02to move my slide forward.
  • 03:08I'll do it this way.
  • 03:11This is actually the Today is the day we
  • 03:14are completing review all my in person
  • 03:16residents as we might describe it in.
  • 03:19These are days of the pandemic.
  • 03:22I will still be with the division through
  • 03:25January and possibly a bit beyond.
  • 03:32Three decades of work has gone into clinical
  • 03:36assessment of malingering and deception.
  • 03:38I think if you would kindly look at the
  • 03:41first edition there on the left hand
  • 03:44panel and I hope that all of you can
  • 03:46affirm that was not a facsimile of me,
  • 03:48although in the earlier years
  • 03:50that was the TV pointed statement.
  • 03:56When Anshel disclosures,
  • 03:58I think is very important.
  • 03:59He saw what she did have the calling card,
  • 04:01Testament book and the primary
  • 04:05off author of the service.
  • 04:08Two in the service.
  • 04:10I will provide a few examples from those.
  • 04:13There is a one or two mentions
  • 04:15of the extra in the summer, but
  • 04:17without any details provided at all.
  • 04:22The objectives for today.
  • 04:23I think whenever we start to
  • 04:25think let's look forward,
  • 04:27let's see where things are advancing.
  • 04:29It's oftentimes helpful to take
  • 04:31a very brief look historically
  • 04:33of where we've come from.
  • 04:35So nice to do that.
  • 04:36I also want to talk about some of
  • 04:39the fundamental weaknesses, the DSM
  • 04:415 and the second assessment model,
  • 04:44which I think have real implications
  • 04:46in terms of our day-to-day
  • 04:48practice, both in clinical
  • 04:50and forensic evaluations.
  • 04:52Moving on to what I think
  • 04:53are perhaps more positive topics,
  • 04:55we'll talk a bit about some effective
  • 04:57scales and detection strategies.
  • 05:00These are continuing to be refined. As
  • 05:04uh as time continues to go by,
  • 05:07we'll also talk about some
  • 05:09frontiers and current advances
  • 05:11in terms of the assessment.
  • 05:15Critical lens from the past.
  • 05:19I don't think they chose or Mason.
  • 05:20Cox was a person who was quiet
  • 05:24and expressing his viewpoints.
  • 05:26He suggested in 1811 that we
  • 05:28could invest his get to the
  • 05:30bottom of the issue sometimes for
  • 05:33posing plaint painful operations.
  • 05:35Nauseating remedies, active medicines,
  • 05:38blisters, clashes have induced
  • 05:41the pseudo manic to throw off his
  • 05:44imposture and windows don't work.
  • 05:46He suggested things that could
  • 05:48become more decisive.
  • 05:50Such as a capacity of existing heat,
  • 05:52cold, hunger, and thirst.
  • 05:54Certainly a different moral
  • 05:55and ethical values then.
  • 05:57Hope we would see expressed today.
  • 06:02But not to allow the extreme too.
  • 06:05In fact, is a cloud, our judgment,
  • 06:08or our view of what was
  • 06:11considered to be signs of fainting lunacy.
  • 06:15You'll notice that there is a
  • 06:16number of things here which I think
  • 06:18are actually quite good. The idea of acting
  • 06:22winden factors on stage,
  • 06:24both increasing the symptoms
  • 06:27the sun onset, of course makes some sense.
  • 06:29The idea of never concealing. The symptoms
  • 06:32is also there. The expression
  • 06:34of course of absurd thoughts is
  • 06:37something we might bear in mind.
  • 06:39One area which I think we've lost
  • 06:41track of a bit over the last 150
  • 06:46to 200 years, has been what
  • 06:49will it was many malinger.
  • 06:50It's what are some of the things
  • 06:52that are intact which are very
  • 06:55hard for the person to fake
  • 06:57an eye contact, I think is really in central
  • 07:00one where. And perhaps the person
  • 07:02who's a schizophrenic disorder has
  • 07:05difficulty making eye contact.
  • 07:07A malingerer who is pretending,
  • 07:11or faking a psychotic disorder
  • 07:14must have no difficulty.
  • 07:15Is that all? Likewise,
  • 07:17in terms of somehow illuminating
  • 07:20their failing students, friends and
  • 07:23family is oftentimes intact with malingerers
  • 07:30They also suggested some assessment methods,
  • 07:33so also some active interventions.
  • 07:35The idea of suggesting
  • 07:38and filler ethnic boomed.
  • 07:40Many of you know, is really one of
  • 07:43the Giants in the area of assessment,
  • 07:45malingering, because proposes that in
  • 07:48fact is I suggesting a symptom, and then
  • 07:51seeing that symptom appears. Obviously
  • 07:54you'd have to be careful
  • 07:55about individuals who
  • 07:56have a high level suggest ability, but
  • 07:59a. Idea which I have not seen in the
  • 08:03twenty 20th century and 21st century is
  • 08:06one of writing samples and this strikes
  • 08:09me as being a really bright idea.
  • 08:12A person who in fact who speaks, see
  • 08:14she's very, very disorganized.
  • 08:16We've asked to write about a
  • 08:19particular topic and it becomes
  • 08:21a very much more rational.
  • 08:23This will be a good indication
  • 08:25that the VERBALIZATIONS may
  • 08:28not be entirely accurate.
  • 08:30They also had the idea of
  • 08:32active interventions, unpleasant
  • 08:34drugs, emetics, purgatives,
  • 08:37believing of course that the insane
  • 08:40walked complaint and then there were
  • 08:42the threats of physical intervention.
  • 08:45And then I guess the final step was the
  • 08:48idea of physical interventions themselves,
  • 08:51such as whipping, intoxication and
  • 08:54the horrorland chair. I suspect
  • 08:56there's a few of you who
  • 08:58are wondering what is the.
  • 09:00A whirling shell look like.
  • 09:04So here is a a a illustration
  • 09:06of the whipping chair.
  • 09:08I am kind of surprised that
  • 09:09the if you all the gear ratio
  • 09:11appears to be really quite low,
  • 09:13which probably means this is not
  • 09:14going to be keep having the person
  • 09:17spin in any dramatic fashion.
  • 09:23Really excellent book for those of
  • 09:25you by John Coley for those of you
  • 09:28who love history, I've II must say
  • 09:31I've only read chapters of this,
  • 09:34but it really expressed, I think,
  • 09:36high level OM. This was at the end
  • 09:41into the early 20th century,
  • 09:44the end of 19th century, in terms
  • 09:46of lingering in feigned illness.
  • 09:59And I found this really, very interesting.
  • 10:01The argument is making is that there is a.
  • 10:07Almost anyone who wants a disability will get
  • 10:10a disability. So in the year this is
  • 10:13the year 1911 forty or 23,000 cases
  • 10:18life in charity of those were settled
  • 10:22out of court of those decided in court.
  • 10:25I hope you can see the the
  • 10:27one with that slide of those.
  • 10:29The designing court.
  • 10:3080% of them went for the applicant in
  • 10:33only 20% went for the respondents.
  • 10:42Building on this, this was after
  • 10:44World War One. Seltzer took, I think,
  • 10:46kind of a very interesting approach
  • 10:48and what he did is, he said, let's look at VA
  • 10:53records compared to military records.
  • 10:56And of course all of us in the
  • 10:58audience can can see immediately
  • 11:00that there would be some cases that
  • 11:03would come up post military service.
  • 11:05And if I have someone found the
  • 11:07numbers but roughly what he's saying
  • 11:10is is three times more disabilities.
  • 11:13Then in fact, it's what there was injuries
  • 11:16during during the actual combat itself,
  • 11:20ending up with the conclusion it is
  • 11:23ridiculously easy to prove a disability.
  • 11:29No, I'm going to turn to
  • 11:31kind of a time of transition.
  • 11:34I think both in terms of both in
  • 11:36terms of hospitals and facilities
  • 11:39as well as in in terms of the
  • 11:42practice of forensic practice and
  • 11:44the assessment of malingering.
  • 11:45So this is just a brief historical.
  • 11:48This file was in the public domain is
  • 11:52a picture of Illinois State hospital.
  • 11:54I actually joined. This facility,
  • 11:58six months after they moved to the
  • 12:02new facility that you might think,
  • 12:05would be a time of excitement.
  • 12:07It truly was.
  • 12:08It's also a time of very difficult
  • 12:11change because they took people
  • 12:13who were called guards back in.
  • 12:15If you will,
  • 12:16the prison days they trained
  • 12:18them for several weeks hold them
  • 12:20security therapy aids in thought.
  • 12:22Of course they can make that transition.
  • 12:30So one of the things are probably
  • 12:32speaking a little bit to my longevity.
  • 12:34I'll talk about a couple reviews
  • 12:37which happened pretty pretty
  • 12:39much at the time of this,
  • 12:41and so this was the first which appeared
  • 12:44in behavioral sciences and the law.
  • 12:49And what struck me,
  • 12:50I don't know if anyone looked the
  • 12:52literature mill in the recent decades.
  • 12:54But there are thousands of
  • 12:56studies back in 1984, however,
  • 12:59the officials didn't highly different.
  • 13:01At that time there were 53 studies
  • 13:04I could find and to be quite frank,
  • 13:07we cast with the ten other
  • 13:09studies a very broad net.
  • 13:11So we were trying to be as inclusive
  • 13:14as possible in this the case studies,
  • 13:16I'll talk about those in just a moment,
  • 13:19but you'll see the MPI.
  • 13:21Is probably the only measure
  • 13:23which stands out with any real
  • 13:25body of literature behind.
  • 13:30One of the tables from this,
  • 13:34now ancient review.
  • 13:36You'll know CSS CSS for case studies the PT.
  • 13:42As far as psychological
  • 13:44testing you'll see here,
  • 13:46that number of these are actually
  • 13:49feeling similar to that slide.
  • 13:52I showed you a faint
  • 13:54lunacy back in the 1800s.
  • 13:59I think the one just get
  • 14:02to that in just a sack.
  • 14:04So the case study is a very difficult
  • 14:08because to really gain much knowledge
  • 14:12from their wonderfully descriptive.
  • 14:14But there are frankly and
  • 14:16exercise and circularity.
  • 14:18'cause this is a situation
  • 14:21where we're taking individuals.
  • 14:24And and label them as a malingerer.
  • 14:27Then in fact,
  • 14:28it's describing some of the
  • 14:29characteristics and then flipping
  • 14:31around and saying in these
  • 14:33are the characteristics of a
  • 14:34president who is malingering.
  • 14:36So it's really difficult to get
  • 14:38away from that.
  • 14:39I think when you look at the case studies,
  • 14:41the only thing which is different
  • 14:43from what we found back in the
  • 14:4619th century was a sequence of
  • 14:49symptoms and that not distilling
  • 14:51on Thunder has been something which
  • 14:54researches on believing in response.
  • 14:56Styles have not worked out a
  • 14:59way to systematically evaluate
  • 15:01the sequence of symptoms.
  • 15:14I have a overactive mouse.
  • 15:16So that's the but really which we saw
  • 15:21in 84 was if you will, beyond the MPI.
  • 15:25What I've described as a
  • 15:28hopeless mishmash of methods.
  • 15:30Not a very good site.
  • 15:33Did another review.
  • 15:34This is close to 10 years later and
  • 15:37this was one of individuals in terms
  • 15:40of feigned cognitive impairment, and.
  • 15:45The findings there were the most recently,
  • 15:48the most prominently
  • 15:50studied was raised 15 item.
  • 15:52Andre Ray developed this idea in the 1940s.
  • 15:56The idea was to present people with
  • 15:5915 different types of information,
  • 16:00which of course would be a very difficult,
  • 16:03so perhaps to remember. However,
  • 16:07the to make the test similar,
  • 16:10there are sequences such as 321,
  • 16:13so it's only actually five concepts
  • 16:15that need to be remembered.
  • 16:16It represented the state of the art in 1993,
  • 16:20and we've come really a
  • 16:22long ways from that point.
  • 16:24A total of five studies in
  • 16:27two simulation studies.
  • 16:29I guess if we want to say go good news first,
  • 16:31you know about 80% of those
  • 16:34individuals who are not.
  • 16:35Faking, in fact is were
  • 16:38successful at the task.
  • 16:40However, from lingers for
  • 16:42those people simulating,
  • 16:44they didn't think I don't have
  • 16:45to look at that hat off,
  • 16:48and so you'll see the numbers there were,
  • 16:50say 15 to 23%,
  • 16:52so it was largely unsuccessful.
  • 16:58Did that article did basically summarize
  • 17:01all this in the literature and we found
  • 17:04that there were a number of areas where
  • 17:07a number of strategies that were used.
  • 17:10The floor effect is where you ask
  • 17:13people totally simple questions that
  • 17:15almost anyone who could get correct.
  • 17:17So for example who is older,
  • 17:20you or your mother?
  • 17:23Probably most people can get that.
  • 17:26Makes you have error.
  • 17:28Sometimes these were very strange answers,
  • 17:31so it wasn't how right did they get.
  • 17:32It was how wrong did they get it?
  • 17:34And then although this has not
  • 17:37been found much more recently.
  • 17:39Losing some work on games like symptoms,
  • 17:41which is approximately answers
  • 17:42asked you know what is 11 * 11?
  • 17:45Perhaps response would be 120.
  • 17:48You look up the next two.
  • 17:51I will show a bit more sophistication,
  • 17:53so in terms of violation
  • 17:55for learning for them,
  • 17:56so will you give up a list of words,
  • 17:59see how many they can recall?
  • 18:01See how making recognize in person,
  • 18:04spring forth with good effort
  • 18:06most of the time the recognitions
  • 18:08can be way higher than the recall
  • 18:10and then another approach which
  • 18:12I think is kind of interesting
  • 18:14is substantially below chance.
  • 18:16For farmers.
  • 18:16There was one case study that was imported.
  • 18:19Of an adolescent female she was given.
  • 18:24She was given 400 trials and
  • 18:27she finally got one correct.
  • 18:29My guess is and there's no way
  • 18:30that I'm engaging in mind reading,
  • 18:32but she might have said to herself
  • 18:34I'll be here forever if I don't
  • 18:36get at least one of these, correct?
  • 18:42So this this, I think is kind of fun.
  • 18:44This is again warning his thermal side.
  • 18:46But this is what we see in terms
  • 18:48of periods of exploration.
  • 18:50Some of the efforts put forth I
  • 18:52mention applicable my own in here
  • 18:55so that we would have a like a
  • 18:57good notion of where these are.
  • 19:03So willing exclusive frania.
  • 19:06I have to admit that some
  • 19:07some of these items seem a bit much to me,
  • 19:11particularly only give people two
  • 19:14choices about hearing voices.
  • 19:15This is something that has never
  • 19:18happened to me, or every day at noon
  • 19:20the devil tells me to kill someone.
  • 19:23Uh, I think there must be a third choice.
  • 19:27And then regarding the torture of animals,
  • 19:29I realize that many people
  • 19:31are sensitive to cats etc.
  • 19:33But a I have the uncontrollable
  • 19:35urges to kill my neighbors pet
  • 19:38knows we have no apostrophe there.
  • 19:41Oh, I do not enjoy this or
  • 19:43proof of it in others.
  • 19:50Some others in terms of screen.
  • 19:53Whenever I see people that are not real,
  • 19:56they always appear in black and white.
  • 20:02Most of the time when
  • 20:03people are talking to me,
  • 20:05I say their words spelled out nowadays,
  • 20:08of course, so that would not maybe not
  • 20:11be a psychotic or or fake symptom,
  • 20:13since they have banners.
  • 20:15Whenever you watch any kind of news
  • 20:17show and so that becomes interesting,
  • 20:20this other one, I think send #11
  • 20:23seems rather troubling to me.
  • 20:25Whenever I'm sitting in a chair,
  • 20:27I have to take,
  • 20:28I have to breathe a deep breath
  • 20:30in order to not get sick.
  • 20:40It is. This is my handwriting,
  • 20:43so take it for what it's worth.
  • 20:45So these are a few items that
  • 20:47have not made it into our
  • 20:49particular tester or anything else.
  • 20:51Who's out there might be just a
  • 20:53little over the top lamp shades
  • 20:55were invented for punishment,
  • 20:57not even sure what that means.
  • 20:58Automobiles have their own religion and
  • 21:01vacuum cleaners will purify your mind.
  • 21:12And. Here are some physical symptoms,
  • 21:15so these sound very distressing to me.
  • 21:18The buzzing in my ears keep switching,
  • 21:20switching from left to right.
  • 21:23You'd think it would have come back
  • 21:25right to left my stomach at times,
  • 21:27or also loudly.
  • 21:28That can be heard from by people
  • 21:30outside of the room at times.
  • 21:32My fingernails, which I've been told,
  • 21:34sometimes I sleep with my eyes open.
  • 21:39OK, well I think hopefully
  • 21:40that was a I bet entertaining.
  • 21:43Let's move on to me dearest topic.
  • 21:46Which some issues?
  • 21:48Some really profound issues
  • 21:50with the DSM as well as the MD,
  • 21:54which I'll explain in a few
  • 21:56minutes classifications.
  • 22:02Sell DSM five. This is defined,
  • 22:08so I think that there's,
  • 22:09I think the definition is good.
  • 22:11Intentional production of faults or grossly
  • 22:15exaggerated physical or psychological
  • 22:17symptoms motivated by external incentives.
  • 22:21Two things should really pay attention to.
  • 22:23The fact is that it's not completely made up,
  • 22:27is a gross exaggeration.
  • 22:28I would humbly submit the difference
  • 22:31between a suicide gesture.
  • 22:33In an attempt would not
  • 22:35be a gross exaggeration.
  • 22:37But in fact,
  • 22:39having occasional thoughts about death.
  • 22:41To saying I was,
  • 22:42I had a serious attempt on my own life,
  • 22:46would represent a gross exaggeration,
  • 22:51and I think a critical point here is
  • 22:54motivation cannot just be assumed,
  • 22:57it has to be something that is closely
  • 22:59evaluating and I'll give you a bit
  • 23:01more evidence of that in a minute.
  • 23:06The difference between
  • 23:09motivation in our inference,
  • 23:10I said extrapolation of our inference
  • 23:13of what might be the incentive.
  • 23:16I think it's absolutely critical that we
  • 23:18see the difference between those two.
  • 23:21So many help meant many health
  • 23:24care providers, including myself,
  • 23:26completely have multiple opportunities
  • 23:29to pad our compensation in terms of on a
  • 23:32time we put into a forensic consultation,
  • 23:34for example, but I suspect I will
  • 23:37ask for a raise of hands.
  • 23:39I suspect that very few of us
  • 23:42actually engage in that behavior.
  • 23:44So if I were to say most of
  • 23:48my colleagues are fraud.
  • 23:51People who engage in fraud.
  • 23:53You can see how I'm taking a potential
  • 23:58incentive and making in calling it a that.
  • 24:02In fact, it's your all motivation.
  • 24:06Let's go for extreme example here.
  • 24:09You would think in terms of competency
  • 24:12to be executed that this would be set.
  • 24:15The motivation would be
  • 24:17staying alive at all costs.
  • 24:21I don't have good data on this,
  • 24:23uh, but the anecdotal data
  • 24:26that I have is on on average,
  • 24:30maybe about 10% of cases in
  • 24:34terms of post conviction.
  • 24:37This clear evidence of malingering.
  • 24:40I've dealt with about a dozen
  • 24:42or so cases myself.
  • 24:44Meantime, some called in because his
  • 24:46concerns that this might possibly
  • 24:48something to at least consider A to rule out,
  • 24:51so using that as the top end,
  • 24:54that would be roughly 30%.
  • 24:58I I still don't see even in these
  • 25:01extreme circumstances that there
  • 25:03is that people are trying to
  • 25:07linger in order to stay alive.
  • 25:10Who are also suggests about 10%,
  • 25:13probably more in fact is on
  • 25:16denying any mental desires.
  • 25:18Apparently the stigma of being
  • 25:20mentally disordered outweighs
  • 25:21any other consideration.
  • 25:27Sorry, I mean.
  • 25:42So from DSM three to DSM five,
  • 25:46I think important distinction must be
  • 25:49made that a diagnosis have explicit
  • 25:53inclusion and exclusion criteria V codes,
  • 25:57and as many of you are very well aware,
  • 25:59there are dozens and dozens of V
  • 26:02codes are simply problems that require
  • 26:05or potentially require clinical
  • 26:07attention and DSM. Five lists.
  • 26:13SEV code in. Under that code they
  • 26:16have a couple in there for indices of
  • 26:19when it should be strongly suspected.
  • 26:22I have seen very seasoned practitioners.
  • 26:25I'm thinking now of a board certified
  • 26:28forensic psychologist who said look this
  • 26:30guy meets three of the four of these.
  • 26:33Therefore he is malingering.
  • 26:39Imagine if that happened by way.
  • 26:41Any case of serial killer.
  • 26:43Sometimes to be honest,
  • 26:44I get involved in these cases and I'm
  • 26:47really not quite sure why we need
  • 26:49to go through this whole exercise.
  • 26:51This person had already been given had
  • 26:54already been sentenced to death twice,
  • 26:56so this was a third time around
  • 26:59and he he did kill folks.
  • 27:02I think suggesting he is
  • 27:04probably not all intact.
  • 27:06He tended to kill persons at that
  • 27:08time was called a halfway house.
  • 27:10For their money.
  • 27:12I do think, however.
  • 27:14Looking at the DSM 5,
  • 27:16is this as a malingering bias
  • 27:19and it's fatally flawed?
  • 27:24There's a very little threshold,
  • 27:26so in terms of winning by it's it's
  • 27:28a very little threshold for saying
  • 27:31when should we strongly suspect it.
  • 27:33So it says medical legal context,
  • 27:35which means in every single
  • 27:37case that comes before us.
  • 27:40In fact, it should be considered.
  • 27:43Is really the lack of cooperation
  • 27:45in assessment and treatment.
  • 27:47This is a really, you know, traps.
  • 27:48I don't need the emphasis
  • 27:50with explanation point,
  • 27:51but this is really indiscriminant assertion.
  • 27:53Look, we have many people who
  • 27:56lack cooperation, drug denials,
  • 27:58positive pressure management,
  • 28:00and perhaps the most obvious
  • 28:03is in terms of involuntary
  • 28:05hospitalizations we we have to
  • 28:08force this person into treatment.
  • 28:10An antisocial personality sets the bar
  • 28:13very low for the majority of criminal cases,
  • 28:16and the one here,
  • 28:18which seems to have some effect is
  • 28:20in terms of market discrepancies.
  • 28:26It is really. I'm choosing these words.
  • 28:31'cause I wanted to basically responsible,
  • 28:33but I say it's doomed to failure and I think
  • 28:36that is the case if you think about this.
  • 28:38I've had the pleasure and challenges
  • 28:41of of actually evaluating hundreds of
  • 28:45persons of issues of malingering in every
  • 28:48single case they had opposable thumbs.
  • 28:52If we used opposable thumbs as inclusion
  • 28:56criteria or sensitivity would be 100%.
  • 29:00All home to our specificity
  • 29:03would be virtually 0%,
  • 29:04so it's very important that we do not
  • 29:07use common characteristics and we try
  • 29:10to make it accurate determination.
  • 29:12Study that was done in 1990.
  • 29:15Again, GSM three DSM 5 have been identical.
  • 29:19The advantage shifts.
  • 29:20This is this was done prior
  • 29:22to the publication.
  • 29:23The data was collected prior to
  • 29:25the publication of DSM three.
  • 29:27You'll see in fact is the rates that we had.
  • 29:32We looked at two or more indices,
  • 29:3420% sure positive and roughly
  • 29:37an 80% false positive.
  • 29:44As an analogy, if you would
  • 29:46just think of army or dentist,
  • 29:48I think that should be a frightening
  • 29:49thought right there, and the procedure
  • 29:52was one of a tooth extraction.
  • 29:54I wouldn't of course get chewed
  • 29:57out the damaged tooth eventually,
  • 29:59but I don't think we want to experience
  • 30:02that or have forensic examining
  • 30:05goes through that level of error
  • 30:07in part of the graciousness of these
  • 30:11criteria is uncooperativeness was found.
  • 30:14Roughly twice more likely to happen
  • 30:17in genuinely psychotic patients
  • 30:20who are uncooperative because of
  • 30:22their illness than in Malingerers
  • 30:24back to as many willing risk.
  • 30:25Remember the 19th century in terms of
  • 30:29concealing their symptoms, in fact,
  • 30:32is never concealed their symptoms.
  • 30:37So it's a full screen to use the
  • 30:41DSM five has disastrous results.
  • 30:43For example, in that case of
  • 30:47the California serial murder,
  • 30:49the person testified.
  • 30:51Yep, medical, legal,
  • 30:53avd and cooperative actually
  • 30:55once put on the proper psychotic
  • 30:58medication became very cooperative.
  • 31:03Uh, this I'll go through very quickly
  • 31:06because it is something probably of
  • 31:08interest to only a small number of
  • 31:11individuals who have the MD or the
  • 31:15Malingered neurocognitive dysfunction,
  • 31:17also called the slick criteria
  • 31:19developed by three psychologists.
  • 31:21I think in the Vancouver area.
  • 31:25They suggest this as a comprehensive
  • 31:28model eventually became approved by the
  • 31:31National Academy of Neuropsychology.
  • 31:36Again, we have that problem,
  • 31:38which is a common theme.
  • 31:40Is that to extrapolate incentive,
  • 31:42they say if you're in this disability
  • 31:45then you motivate a malingerer by
  • 31:48the factor in a disability situation.
  • 31:50They also try to be incredibly inclusive,
  • 31:55so that if the performance is consistent
  • 31:59with fainting across the whole
  • 32:01range of areas or for the report is.
  • 32:05Discrepant across history,
  • 32:07brain functioning observations
  • 32:10environments I know for those of
  • 32:12us who do forensic in otherwise
  • 32:14complex clinical evaluations,
  • 32:16there are always inconsistencies
  • 32:18in their record.
  • 32:19In many times there's inconsistencies
  • 32:22with the examinee because that
  • 32:26person is clearly a poor historian.
  • 32:30So this was testing the IMD.
  • 32:33If you claim that you can read that,
  • 32:35then that would be positive
  • 32:37impression management,
  • 32:38because I don't think that you can.
  • 32:39The goal here is to look at how
  • 32:41many white spaces there are,
  • 32:43which are areas of this model
  • 32:45that have not been tested.
  • 32:52Malingering bias we see them looming,
  • 32:55buyers come up yet again in these
  • 32:58circumstances here because they're using
  • 33:02minimal level of certainty for trouble.
  • 33:05The criteria, if it just suggests
  • 33:07something as opposed to that you're
  • 33:09clear about this meeting their criteria.
  • 33:12That's enough to call you a malingerer,
  • 33:14if in fact it's all you need is two out
  • 33:17of 10 criteria and there are hundreds
  • 33:19of examples for each of those criteria.
  • 33:21How it can be met?
  • 33:23The possible incentive.
  • 33:24We've already talked about.
  • 33:25If you deny some past history,
  • 33:28then that proves that you are
  • 33:30faking and if you're faking,
  • 33:32perhaps or the evidence you
  • 33:35faking in say depression,
  • 33:37then that would be can be used as a proxy.
  • 33:40Vote for the fact you must be
  • 33:43faking card in memory issues.
  • 33:49However. To show how much we
  • 33:52should think of this thing.
  • 33:54As a seasoned, how high the standards
  • 33:58are from malingering 2 ideas one is you
  • 34:01have to feel fully account for other
  • 34:05other explanations 100% of the time.
  • 34:09And indeed, when we come
  • 34:11to clinical realities,
  • 34:13that is almost never an achievable standard,
  • 34:16then the criteria for ruling out
  • 34:19this mainly odd to some of you.
  • 34:23This is actually pretty much
  • 34:26taken almost verbatim.
  • 34:27Will numeric and Lawrence
  • 34:29shoot standard for insanity.
  • 34:31So extremely high standard there.
  • 34:37That kind of moves on, I think,
  • 34:40to looking at probably more positive
  • 34:44things in terms of kind of the new
  • 34:47error and detection strategies.
  • 34:54Here, and this could be
  • 34:56done with a lot of detail,
  • 34:58but I'll move it with it rather quickly.
  • 35:02We have either unlikely strategies,
  • 35:05unlikely testing strategies,
  • 35:07you know it's the presence of this
  • 35:10would give us some very much concerns
  • 35:12in and onto amplified, which is.
  • 35:15This could be a legitimate symptom.
  • 35:17It's just got too much of it or
  • 35:20too severe when it comes to that.
  • 35:23So we are symptoms are those we should
  • 35:26really occur in heterogeneous diagnostic
  • 35:29sample and the most stringent would be 10%.
  • 35:35There are a couple LAX ones which go
  • 35:37to 20% and I think that's a mistake.
  • 35:39Examples of this would be psychotic symptoms,
  • 35:43say neologisms.
  • 35:46Or very rare, even among individuals
  • 35:50hospitalized for schizophrenic disorders.
  • 35:53Very infrequent that they
  • 35:55actually expressed geologist,
  • 35:56seems, well,
  • 35:57auditory hallucinations and other language.
  • 36:00I know awkward moment with a
  • 36:03patient who said he was visited
  • 36:06by this lovely woman who spoke to
  • 36:09him in Italian and then I asked
  • 36:12him to say something in Italian.
  • 36:14Yeah,
  • 36:15it wasn't pretty.
  • 36:21So for rare symptoms this is something
  • 36:24from the service to when we look
  • 36:26across a broad population of those
  • 36:29in correctional clinical forensic,
  • 36:31you'll see roughly between
  • 36:3312 and 14% on these reported,
  • 36:37and we have pretty much tripled
  • 36:41those numbers when it comes to
  • 36:44training simulators as those who.
  • 36:48Gauged in a simulation study woolever
  • 36:51as adults that we feel strongly
  • 36:54that we've confirmed that they are
  • 36:56willing are in clinical practice.
  • 37:03Let's move on unlikely ones.
  • 37:06In some of you might say, and I think
  • 37:08would be able to generate question.
  • 37:10Do we need to go that far
  • 37:11because this is you might say,
  • 37:13testing the limits.
  • 37:14How far is this person willing
  • 37:17to report symptoms?
  • 37:18These examples I came up with
  • 37:20may seem a bit too much on the
  • 37:23physiological side or involved in health.
  • 37:25Do you spell cremating bodies
  • 37:27whenever you take a shower?
  • 37:28Do hair dryers cause your brain to wrinkle?
  • 37:31Probably not pleasant thoughts.
  • 37:37As you can see, your genuine samples,
  • 37:41the numbers go down even
  • 37:43further for this info failures
  • 37:45because it is really out there.
  • 37:47Their percentage is about three to
  • 37:50four times more, but still lower
  • 37:53than under the rare symptoms.
  • 37:57And my favorite,
  • 37:59which probably says something about me.
  • 38:01But it is in terms of Paris at
  • 38:04symptoms and Paris has symptoms
  • 38:06that assumes the relatively common
  • 38:08but really occur together to have
  • 38:10intense fears at the same time,
  • 38:13your appetite for food increases.
  • 38:15It was in the other direction.
  • 38:16It would certainly make sense,
  • 38:18but usually someone who is in
  • 38:20fear of the life doesn't say.
  • 38:23Let me sit down and shout out.
  • 38:29So here's some examples from
  • 38:30The Sims from The Sims.
  • 38:32You look at the clinical forensic sample
  • 38:34at 18% and over half of these are reported
  • 38:39by individuals in the simulation study.
  • 38:43Just this was kind of clever.
  • 38:45Stay visit done with quantitative analysis.
  • 38:47We looked at across the
  • 38:49certified items we looked at,
  • 38:51but correlations do not occur.
  • 38:54So those are fee coefficients
  • 38:57minus .5 - .05 excuse me.
  • 38:59But in simulator you'll see it is .46,
  • 39:03so it becomes a very interesting strategy
  • 39:06for detecting people for malingering.
  • 39:12Amplified these the ones
  • 39:15which are too extreme.
  • 39:17The cut need to cover a wide
  • 39:19range of symptoms with this,
  • 39:21but where the person is reporting
  • 39:23things which are either
  • 39:25extremely too painful to stand.
  • 39:42I'm sorry I'm having a
  • 39:44little difficulty here.
  • 39:45You'll see with these they reported
  • 39:49that in indeed these are avoided.
  • 39:52In average populations.
  • 39:53You can see that's very lively,
  • 39:56different between average
  • 39:59and fainting groups.
  • 40:01Selectivity of symptoms and this side.
  • 40:03I'm just trying here from the PA I.
  • 40:06In terms of this is just like
  • 40:09the Will Rogers of symptoms is
  • 40:11not a symptom that is not liked.
  • 40:14Usually something adaptable
  • 40:16to multi scale inventories.
  • 40:19Research came out in terms of
  • 40:22how high are your elevations on
  • 40:25these clinical scales and that
  • 40:26can easily be used as a way of
  • 40:29saying this is unlikely to be true.
  • 40:31There's simply the magnitude of
  • 40:34symptoms being reported is unrealistic.
  • 40:40So let's look at some of the challenges.
  • 40:44Select opinion, let's look at some
  • 40:46of the challenges with malingering.
  • 40:51I think a couple of enduring challenges
  • 40:54have to do with how we assess the accuracy
  • 40:58of our assessment and reporting in then
  • 41:01in terms of refining things further,
  • 41:03looking at detection strategies.
  • 41:06They will tell us specifically
  • 41:09what is being faked.
  • 41:11Alright, so numbers we all believe in
  • 41:14numbers II rather like this thing about
  • 41:17Hines and 57 varieties of ketchup.
  • 41:19He asserted this for decades.
  • 41:22It was apparently a very effective
  • 41:24marketing tool, but utterly false.
  • 41:26Actually, numbers five and seven represented
  • 41:29Hines and his wife's lucky numbers.
  • 41:32We also have problems with numbers,
  • 41:34which I think I've become fairly
  • 41:37clear in terms of the replication
  • 41:40crisis and social sciences.
  • 41:42Described as a crisis of credibility in here,
  • 41:46we've been very comfortable reporting
  • 41:48things which are statistically
  • 41:49significant but lack of clinical.
  • 41:52For instance,
  • 41:53clinical forensics relevance example
  • 41:55would be correlations of .2 and
  • 41:59call that empirical scientifically
  • 42:02based correlates well.
  • 42:03If you think of that in terms of music,
  • 42:06help me turn on your favorite music station.
  • 42:09You'll be listening to 96% static in 4%.
  • 42:13Music.
  • 42:17I think one of our efforts here
  • 42:19has been particularly in clinical
  • 42:22psychology is to over report things
  • 42:26beyond the position which they are do.
  • 42:33If people are in on psychological
  • 42:36measures, for example,
  • 42:37taking a one point difference and saying,
  • 42:40and that's what we need to work on.
  • 42:42During annoying they are
  • 42:44ignoring the fact that there are
  • 42:46significant measurement errors.
  • 42:48The answers of that is well defined scores.
  • 42:51We just eliminate just a narrow band
  • 42:53where you're going to be making mistakes.
  • 43:01Looking at this, uh,
  • 43:03myself and Scott Bender,
  • 43:05one of my former students,
  • 43:07referred to this as the
  • 43:09myth of lane accuracy.
  • 43:11If you just remove for, say,
  • 43:14the MPI to really narrow band of
  • 43:17five key points on either side,
  • 43:20you'd improved your life
  • 43:22in your accuracy hugely.
  • 43:26So here we go. If we look at if
  • 43:29you remove that, it's a bit of
  • 43:32research that we have conducted.
  • 43:34Basically your coral classification
  • 43:37errors are at 50% and we felt
  • 43:41that many of you would want to
  • 43:43go into court and say, you know,
  • 43:44really, our accuracy here is
  • 43:46pretty much the flip of the coin.
  • 43:51If you think of why, if we,
  • 43:54if we think about dunking a basketball,
  • 43:56you know it's not equally probable
  • 43:58of who's going to build a dunk.
  • 43:59It persons who is not assuming
  • 44:01both are in great shape.
  • 44:03I would say that someone at 65
  • 44:05is going to be a lot more likely
  • 44:08than someone at 5.5 feet 5 inches
  • 44:11not being able to do this.
  • 44:13And I do think that perhaps
  • 44:15that's something we should be
  • 44:17expressing directly to the Court.
  • 44:19In secretly quotes the USF Training
  • 44:21Court has held in Hall V Florida
  • 44:24that we cannot use a single point.
  • 44:26Well, this was a death penalty case,
  • 44:28and it was about IQ scores were they said,
  • 44:31is you have to reflect the reality
  • 44:34of the standard error of measurement.
  • 44:36I'm sure those aren't their words,
  • 44:38but we used from the amicus brief.
  • 44:44They assume on my way they they they
  • 44:46commented that this was a 95% confidence
  • 44:48interval was what was legally required.
  • 44:53Now you might say, well,
  • 44:56this sounds like to me.
  • 44:58Well, probably it does.
  • 45:01This is as signatories of the
  • 45:03American Psychological Association
  • 45:05work inside Cashew Association,
  • 45:07the American Academy of
  • 45:08Psychiatry and the law,
  • 45:10and saying national the National
  • 45:12Association of Social Workers.
  • 45:14So everyone was on board
  • 45:15in a signatory of this.
  • 45:19The amicus brief, in fact, is said,
  • 45:23you know, it would be not without
  • 45:27stands or practice if we did not
  • 45:30report these SCMS and I know that they
  • 45:34were perhaps united for a political
  • 45:36reason or a social justice reason,
  • 45:39namely the death penalty.
  • 45:40But they did not make that distinction.
  • 45:43So there's a question that many of
  • 45:46us perhaps showing the discussion
  • 45:48might see this from different.
  • 45:50Perspectives
  • 45:55alright, so the last bit here,
  • 45:57which will be probably four or five minutes,
  • 46:00is kind of emerging frontiers.
  • 46:05So can we tell you we can tell,
  • 46:07say the person is faking it,
  • 46:09but can we tell what they're faking?
  • 46:11So the first efforts in this
  • 46:13direction was to develop a scale
  • 46:16that had PTS type items on it,
  • 46:18and then those who scored high.
  • 46:20The researchers concluded,
  • 46:22must be feigning PTSD.
  • 46:25What they were missing is whether the
  • 46:28scale was high would also be elevated
  • 46:31in genuine patients with severe PTSD.
  • 46:34Whether this scale would be elevating
  • 46:36other people with other severe disorders.
  • 46:38Schizoaffective disorder in
  • 46:39whether this scale would be
  • 46:41elevated for other failures.
  • 46:43So is it really faint PDST or could
  • 46:45be any other kind of painting?
  • 46:51Second effort in this in these
  • 46:53three examples where they come from
  • 46:56different various versions of the MP Q.
  • 46:59But Umm, PI2RF, is this a Mac scale for
  • 47:03looking at people faking for people,
  • 47:07faking medical complaints shaft.
  • 47:10One of my former students looked at this in.
  • 47:14It doesn't look good.
  • 47:16The trouble with the the F scale use
  • 47:19that genuine patients with somatoform
  • 47:22disorders have high very high scores.
  • 47:25In fact, it's on the scale.
  • 47:27It also has four accuracy.
  • 47:29It's a relatively ineffective
  • 47:31for picking up those people,
  • 47:33fainting medical problems,
  • 47:35and finally it doesn't distinguish
  • 47:37from other painters.
  • 47:39So those who feigning depression
  • 47:41or TBI will also have elevations,
  • 47:44so really not answering the
  • 47:46question that is being asked of us.
  • 47:50Saint Louis success.
  • 47:51Emily Robinson worked with the lead on this
  • 47:55of can we differentiate between people
  • 47:58faking ADHD in other types of failures?
  • 48:02For those of you who might not be
  • 48:04aware of this particular problem,
  • 48:06certainly in terms of college settings,
  • 48:10you can either get illicit use of stimulants
  • 48:13or all of your worst nightmare of a class.
  • 48:16So there are reasons that looking at that.
  • 48:19What we did is we find a different
  • 48:22type of detection strategy stereotypes
  • 48:25that people have about ADHD.
  • 48:28Excuse me that do not appear to be true.
  • 48:32So which of these are very strong results?
  • 48:35Obviously need some replication,
  • 48:37but it does clearly differentiate
  • 48:41between faint and genuine ADHD.
  • 48:43One standard used for CONSTA.
  • 48:46If it's .8 or above,
  • 48:48I think that's in it still.
  • 48:50Also, 2.65 is huge,
  • 48:53but it differentiate between people
  • 48:55faking ADHD and taking other conditions.
  • 48:58Again, it is a very large difference.
  • 49:00Use it markedly.
  • 49:01Elevated in individuals who
  • 49:03are faking other conditions.
  • 49:05Actually it goes in the opposite direction.
  • 49:08So it works out very well.
  • 49:14Three other issues that we might
  • 49:16consider in it is in the research on
  • 49:20if we make the content more ambiguous,
  • 49:23it's harder to feign.
  • 49:25We're not quite sure what the goal is.
  • 49:27The question is so some work done on,
  • 49:30not by myself, but on the extra suggests
  • 49:34it should probably can reduce the
  • 49:36ability of people to fake by about 50%,
  • 49:39if in fact it's the questions are
  • 49:41worded in a way that does not imply it.
  • 49:44The answer. Second, we looked at can
  • 49:48we look at the type of fainting?
  • 49:50For example, in a legal case
  • 49:53such as a competency cases,
  • 49:55here the content was specific.
  • 49:58So for example,
  • 49:59asking bogus questions about the
  • 50:02defense lawyer in the follow up
  • 50:04questions were something about this
  • 50:06affecting the person's ability to
  • 50:08appear in court and put on a defense.
  • 50:12In the third one,
  • 50:14which I I find perhaps the
  • 50:15most interesting of these is,
  • 50:18can we actually tell people
  • 50:19what the strategies are,
  • 50:21and will this actually
  • 50:22make it more difficult?
  • 50:24I said paradoxically,
  • 50:25but more difficult for them fake,
  • 50:27so we might say we like you,
  • 50:29sit down and take.
  • 50:30This test will be looking at consistency,
  • 50:33will be questions of similar difficulty.
  • 50:35Look at how consistent you run.
  • 50:36Those will look at how well you do
  • 50:39as the item difficulty increases.
  • 50:42We're going to measure the
  • 50:44magnitude of your responses
  • 50:46against with the correct responses,
  • 50:49and by the way,
  • 50:50we're keeping track of the response time.
  • 50:52So with all those things in mind,
  • 50:54please give us your very best effort.
  • 50:56The initial research that we have
  • 50:58suggests in some cases the person
  • 51:00does the worst because they assigned
  • 51:02to think like I get this done.
  • 51:04I don't have any time.
  • 51:06Is this one I should get right?
  • 51:07Because it's on the easy side of things,
  • 51:09and so I think that represents maybe.
  • 51:12A great place that we could
  • 51:14look at for further research.
  • 51:18Thank you so much for your time.
  • 51:20I'm really open to and will enjoy hearing
  • 51:22the questions and ideas that you have.
  • 51:36OK, well thank you very much.
  • 51:38**** was very enjoyable presentation.
  • 51:42Certainly anyone is free to either put
  • 51:45something in the chat or raise a hand,
  • 51:48or if we don't see your hand,
  • 51:50just unmute and and.
  • 51:54Let us know what your comment or question is.
  • 51:57I was interested in in your
  • 52:01improbable sort of questions.
  • 52:03It reminded me of something that that
  • 52:06we used to talk about sort of tongue in
  • 52:09cheek during my training in the early 80s.
  • 52:12You know, when when a patient would
  • 52:15give you what we referred to as a
  • 52:18positive review of symptoms and the
  • 52:20the suggestion from other residents
  • 52:21were to ask questions like that.
  • 52:24Your teeth itch.
  • 52:25And does your hair hurt?
  • 52:27Is reminded me a lot of of the questions,
  • 52:30including your handwritten ones
  • 52:31that you showed us earlier.
  • 52:35One in generating questions you have
  • 52:37to be a bit careful about these.
  • 52:40I was kidding around a couple of
  • 52:44colleagues that in fact is as I was
  • 52:47writing some of the original questions
  • 52:49that didn't appear on the service,
  • 52:51I found myself sitting alone during
  • 52:55rush hour on the L in either psychotic
  • 52:58or under the influence of drugs.
  • 53:01You know, as you get your
  • 53:02own seat during my shower.
  • 53:16There could you talk a little
  • 53:18bit about people's reactions to
  • 53:23request that they be assessed
  • 53:27for the malingering of symptoms
  • 53:31and what that tells you?
  • 53:34In and of itself, uhm,
  • 53:38and do you have a script
  • 53:41that you routinely use to
  • 53:43explain to people the process?
  • 53:46I'm thankful, actually.
  • 53:49I think there are different
  • 53:50ways of approaching it.
  • 53:51One of the things for example,
  • 53:53I take a disability case is that I will
  • 53:57say in terms of the disability case,
  • 54:00I will put things out there in
  • 54:02terms of saying this is evaluation.
  • 54:05We want to make sure we
  • 54:07get accurate information.
  • 54:07There are going to be measured starting
  • 54:10to be given that will help us to
  • 54:13understand whether you're being really
  • 54:14forthright about this or whether perhaps.
  • 54:17You're putting things on,
  • 54:19you know you're making things
  • 54:21separate worse than what they are,
  • 54:22and I'm here really to kind of
  • 54:25find out what is the most accurate
  • 54:27account of what's going on with you.
  • 54:30And I think there are problems.
  • 54:34Of course,
  • 54:34if you say to people, OK,
  • 54:36I don't really believe you,
  • 54:39and so now I'm going to give
  • 54:40you a test for malingering.
  • 54:42I think that's problematic.
  • 54:44The thing is,
  • 54:45is that most instances this is a routine.
  • 54:48Part of my assessment is I will
  • 54:51always consider those issues.
  • 54:52Might just a library on that for
  • 54:55just a moment in the recent why
  • 54:57is announcing of criminal cases.
  • 54:59I've had criminal cases.
  • 55:01I'm thinking of the capital case
  • 55:03in Atlanta where it's a very
  • 55:05late in the assessment process.
  • 55:07A person came in and in more
  • 55:10or less the smell test,
  • 55:12which is this person looks like
  • 55:14smells like in in feels like a
  • 55:16malingerer so many times I do it
  • 55:19prophylactically to avoid those
  • 55:21last minute experts coming in on it.
  • 55:24But I do try to describe it more
  • 55:27generally relative to interested.
  • 55:29The response style in some cases I
  • 55:31want you to be honest and forthcoming
  • 55:34so it's on both positive vessels.
  • 55:36Negative presentations.
  • 55:42Stick in the chat.
  • 55:43We have a couple of questions that
  • 55:45are very similar about looking
  • 55:47for your thoughts about a common
  • 55:51clinical situation where people who
  • 55:53are homeless come to the emergency
  • 55:56department for Shelter and Food but
  • 55:58make a chief complaint of suicidality.
  • 56:01What are your thoughts about dealing
  • 56:04with malingering in that situation?
  • 56:08And this is a place where they will
  • 56:11water on some values that people have.
  • 56:16If I could just kind of put that aside
  • 56:19for just a second one of the things I
  • 56:22did a tiny bit of consultation with
  • 56:25the Secret Service and the issue is,
  • 56:28is how many people have found that.
  • 56:30If they come in and say I feel
  • 56:32like I'm going to kill someone,
  • 56:33they may not receive services if they come
  • 56:36in and say I'm going to kill the president,
  • 56:39they immediately received services.
  • 56:40So I think there's an article that
  • 56:43described this going up into hundreds.
  • 56:45So I I. I think you have people
  • 56:48who have kind of learned how to
  • 56:50game the system are the lingering.
  • 56:52Yes, this is a much of a very
  • 56:55much of a sustained effort.
  • 56:57It seems helpful to me.
  • 56:59The trouble with suicide?
  • 57:01Yeah, I'm sure there's different
  • 57:02points of view on this.
  • 57:03The difficulty with that is we don't.
  • 57:08We virtually do not want to challenge people
  • 57:10in terms of saying if you don't cut yourself,
  • 57:13I won't believe you.
  • 57:15So this creates a problem and this is one
  • 57:19of those problems that doesn't go away.
  • 57:21As they would in other words,
  • 57:23I think taking them more at face value
  • 57:27than not seems to be an approach.
  • 57:31It would be very difficult to
  • 57:33turn someone away,
  • 57:34or perhaps if they've done
  • 57:36this dozens of times,
  • 57:37you know we could look at that history
  • 57:39and we could say, you know this.
  • 57:41I'm so sorry that you're out in the
  • 57:44cold and it's miserable etc etc.
  • 57:46This releasing, going to work,
  • 57:47fight and then maybe coming up with
  • 57:50an idea that we don't have to push.
  • 57:52The suicide button.
  • 57:53Well, this happens, you know,
  • 57:56in correctional facilities many, many times.
  • 58:00And sometimes in one place where I did
  • 58:04some research they were I was asking,
  • 58:07you know about how who gets
  • 58:09to see mental health services?
  • 58:11They said OK,
  • 58:12we have we have emergencies such as suicide.
  • 58:16We have highly urging cases and
  • 58:18then they were trying to think of
  • 58:20the name of the other third one.
  • 58:22But there was no name for it
  • 58:25because everyone knew if not an
  • 58:27emergency and possibly urgent.
  • 58:29I'm just not getting services and you
  • 58:33know that is really a part of the
  • 58:35conundrum is that oftentimes these
  • 58:38services or physical well being is at stake.
  • 58:41Neutral,
  • 58:42that was very helpful,
  • 58:43but my notion would be I don't think
  • 58:45you could turn the person away.
  • 58:47I think you could evaluate them
  • 58:49and no one has.
  • 58:51No one has worked break yet on bogus
  • 58:56suicide complaints and so that would
  • 58:58be an area that could be looked at.
  • 59:00It's just the professional
  • 59:03responsibility as well as perhaps the
  • 59:07legal responsibility said she would
  • 59:09have that if you turn someone away.
  • 59:13Even it was there half a dozen times,
  • 59:16they come in with this.
  • 59:17I would seem very hard to turn
  • 59:19them away at that point.
  • 59:23There's another question here asking
  • 59:25if you could comment on racial
  • 59:28and socioeconomic disparities among
  • 59:30diagnosis of malingering and whether
  • 59:32or not there's a difference in the
  • 59:35likelihood that persons of color
  • 59:37would be diagnosed as malingerers.
  • 59:42Most of that there is there
  • 59:44is very little data on.
  • 59:46There are some methods out
  • 59:48where individuals have been
  • 59:50divided or even looked at in
  • 59:53terms of their self identified.
  • 59:57Race or ethnic background and so on.
  • 59:59Some message, such as a service.
  • 01:00:01We have similar data on those regarding
  • 01:00:05regarding their their performances is an
  • 01:00:10area that is oftentimes not looked at well.
  • 01:00:14So this was a very bright question, so I'm
  • 01:00:17going to kind of pass out one more piece.
  • 01:00:19I think one of the places where they've
  • 01:00:22been huge problems has been in the Spanish
  • 01:00:25translation of malingering measures,
  • 01:00:27which have been not been rigorously
  • 01:00:30evaluated, and I think that
  • 01:00:32creates just a dramatic problem.
  • 01:00:34The private part of that question of
  • 01:00:36the implications, I think, is due.
  • 01:00:41Practitioners have in this was
  • 01:00:44one has not been tackled directly.
  • 01:00:47What do practitioners have a different
  • 01:00:49mindset when they are seeing a person
  • 01:00:52like a European American versus African
  • 01:00:55American versus a person from a very
  • 01:00:58different cultural background that may
  • 01:01:00be very recently here in the states?
  • 01:01:03And I'd really be interested if anyone
  • 01:01:05else has seen any research on that,
  • 01:01:07but I think that would be the area I
  • 01:01:10can think of how states could be done,
  • 01:01:14but they would probably.
  • 01:01:15The ones I'm thinking of would
  • 01:01:16not be very sophisticated.
  • 01:01:18We provide some of this scenario
  • 01:01:20and you embed that in it because
  • 01:01:22I think it's probably the other
  • 01:01:24person to person interaction,
  • 01:01:26which is where you would see the types of
  • 01:01:29questions being asked in the inferences
  • 01:01:31of those questions relative to how.
  • 01:01:34Individuals are seen as malingering.
  • 01:01:38I also see a handup.
  • 01:01:40Yes, Joseph, go ahead, done yourself.
  • 01:01:46I think thanks for the presentation so and
  • 01:01:49I apologize, I had to miss
  • 01:01:51part of the beginning, so this was
  • 01:01:52explained. Then just tell me so
  • 01:01:54and I'm happy to be quiet again,
  • 01:01:56but so in terms of disability
  • 01:01:59evaluations and also evaluations in
  • 01:02:01civil litigation, the problem is not
  • 01:02:03typically the threshold of malingering,
  • 01:02:05it's a substantiation of the deficits
  • 01:02:07that you see in front of you in a
  • 01:02:09lot of cases that I see are actually
  • 01:02:11more mixed more along the lines
  • 01:02:14of they have some difficulties.
  • 01:02:16So they don't quite reach
  • 01:02:18the threshold, and as
  • 01:02:19such some of the more
  • 01:02:21indeterminant thresholds that you
  • 01:02:23talked about actually end up being
  • 01:02:25pretty relevant to determine
  • 01:02:27whether or not you can determine
  • 01:02:30the degree of disability or the
  • 01:02:31symptoms that they're presenting.
  • 01:02:33Can you just comment on
  • 01:02:34that in terms of popular,
  • 01:02:35you use that in cases like that?
  • 01:02:37Or do you always have
  • 01:02:39a hard criteria to say,
  • 01:02:40well, you got to reach
  • 01:02:41this level, or will
  • 01:02:43just take it face value
  • 01:02:44of what you're saying?
  • 01:02:46This whole piece of that question,
  • 01:02:47and I think both of them are excellent
  • 01:02:49to 19 touch up on either than Joseph so,
  • 01:02:52so I think that's that's excellent.
  • 01:02:55So let me point out, first of all,
  • 01:02:58in terms of research where I think we
  • 01:03:02have failed a bit and I think this touches
  • 01:03:05upon your point slightly obliquely,
  • 01:03:07but hits it mostly.
  • 01:03:09We asked people relative to about
  • 01:03:12the symptoms and and sometimes those
  • 01:03:14symptoms are being faster, etc.
  • 01:03:17The era that we've done very,
  • 01:03:19very little research in is those.
  • 01:03:24Is those where they're actually
  • 01:03:28reporting symptoms accurately?
  • 01:03:30What they're in claiming much more
  • 01:03:33in capacity because of the symptoms?
  • 01:03:36So here's a silly example,
  • 01:03:38but inaccurate, but one.
  • 01:03:39I had a person who came to see
  • 01:03:42me as a part of a disability
  • 01:03:45evaluation who was a dentist.
  • 01:03:47And he basically said I've
  • 01:03:49become anxious at times,
  • 01:03:51sometimes during procedures in
  • 01:03:54adult minor tremors in my hands.
  • 01:03:57When I'm doing, say,
  • 01:03:58is a dental procedure in a very
  • 01:04:02concerned about that was a situation
  • 01:04:05where I'm absolutely convinced
  • 01:04:06that because of some of the other
  • 01:04:09things that were reported in
  • 01:04:10some of the records that this was
  • 01:04:13probably a place where you may.
  • 01:04:14I mean, I've had some a bit of anxiety,
  • 01:04:17but not to the threshold
  • 01:04:18that you needed treatment.
  • 01:04:19ETC, but he was using it as a way of
  • 01:04:23saying and thus I'm impaired and I
  • 01:04:27think they continue to get benefits.
  • 01:04:30So we've been sent very little time.
  • 01:04:32I started a project I have not finished yet.
  • 01:04:35I'll be quite honest about looking
  • 01:04:37at how people report the symptoms,
  • 01:04:40but not to exaggerate the symptoms,
  • 01:04:42but to exaggerate its effect,
  • 01:04:44to say on their work life or or
  • 01:04:47other realms of their existence.
  • 01:04:50I do think though,
  • 01:04:52on from a dimensional perspective that
  • 01:04:56we can say in this is my take on it.
  • 01:04:59I would like us to.
  • 01:05:00Be very clear this person is
  • 01:05:02not malingering or meets the
  • 01:05:04criteria for malingering.
  • 01:05:05If that is indeed the case,
  • 01:05:07but in fact is that with regards to the
  • 01:05:11reporting of the symptoms that there
  • 01:05:14appears to be maybe some elaboration,
  • 01:05:17some accentuation on some of these symptoms,
  • 01:05:21and then in terms of what is
  • 01:05:23needed in terms of typically are
  • 01:05:25asked for which remediation plan
  • 01:05:27or your ideas of what that might.
  • 01:05:30Looks like then I think that
  • 01:05:32could be incorporated into that.
  • 01:05:36I find sometimes you know the use of words.
  • 01:05:40I think it's very important
  • 01:05:42to find what they're not.
  • 01:05:43So because I have found in the
  • 01:05:46world of disability evaluations
  • 01:05:49that is very easy for people to ask
  • 01:05:53you for proxies for malingering.
  • 01:05:56You know in terms of and I think
  • 01:05:58it's so to me it's important that
  • 01:06:00we delineate that one measure,
  • 01:06:02of which I rather like when it
  • 01:06:06comes to disability cases.
  • 01:06:08Is the ages 5,
  • 01:06:09which is really much more of the
  • 01:06:11things that you run into in terms
  • 01:06:14of anxiety is on mood disorders,
  • 01:06:16so comes a good Cam it,
  • 01:06:18but only a screen for psychotic
  • 01:06:21symptoms that infectious gets to
  • 01:06:23a point where you can look at the
  • 01:06:25levels of very they're reporting
  • 01:06:27based upon what they're saying you
  • 01:06:29know based upon collateral sources,
  • 01:06:31hopefully inform at once.
  • 01:06:34Recent case in Houston.
  • 01:06:36This can be a pain in the *** to administer.
  • 01:06:39Let's be honest about that.
  • 01:06:40I had a case in Houston where
  • 01:06:44I thought this could be.
  • 01:06:45I had like a lot in an hour
  • 01:06:47and a half or so far this.
  • 01:06:48As it turns out we finished.
  • 01:06:51I think in 20 to 30 minutes 'cause
  • 01:06:54every symptom he he endorsed every
  • 01:06:57single symptom and he endorsed
  • 01:07:00it to the most extreme level.
  • 01:07:03So it didn't take us long to
  • 01:07:06go through and to find that,
  • 01:07:08but when it's wants us to Mac like
  • 01:07:10that and I can then compare what
  • 01:07:13this person is reporting in terms of
  • 01:07:15maybe trauma or PTSD type symptoms.
  • 01:07:18I can compare systematically
  • 01:07:20across different sources of data.
  • 01:07:23Excellent question. Thank you very much.
  • 01:07:34We've had some very difficult
  • 01:07:35cases where, for example, surgeons
  • 01:07:40who have had these great insurance
  • 01:07:43policies that say if you can't function
  • 01:07:46in the job that you were trained to do,
  • 01:07:49then you will get a very high return on that.
  • 01:07:53And when you have people who've
  • 01:07:56gotten sued and then say I'm too
  • 01:07:59anxious to do surgery anymore.
  • 01:08:02Uh, I've found that very hard to
  • 01:08:05evaluate in terms of, you know,
  • 01:08:08you don't want to send somebody in
  • 01:08:09who's really anxious to do that.
  • 01:08:12At the same time I I've I've had
  • 01:08:15a very hard time figuring out
  • 01:08:16how much is exaggerated.
  • 01:08:20I I would agree with you,
  • 01:08:22Howard completely that some of the
  • 01:08:25occupation specific ones are by
  • 01:08:27far the most challenging because
  • 01:08:29there is a lot of times they
  • 01:08:32have very specific set of data.
  • 01:08:34I assumed that these surgeries were
  • 01:08:38not being recorded and if they were,
  • 01:08:41I'm not quite sure how I would do
  • 01:08:43with that data because I'm not in
  • 01:08:45a position that I could comment
  • 01:08:47on that whatsoever.
  • 01:08:48Obviously that's something
  • 01:08:49that we look for is.
  • 01:08:51Are there recordings of this
  • 01:08:53person that would allow you to see,
  • 01:08:56but I can't imagine anything
  • 01:08:58that we replicate surgery,
  • 01:08:59but in some instances we see with
  • 01:09:02the person has claimed those case.
  • 01:09:05Canadian case we're was claiming all
  • 01:09:09these issues and being able to move etc.
  • 01:09:12That was not an occupational specific case,
  • 01:09:15but there you know watching
  • 01:09:17him gamble for hours on end.
  • 01:09:18By the way,
  • 01:09:19when the most warring things
  • 01:09:21that you can possibly do,
  • 01:09:22but you were able to at least
  • 01:09:24get some clarity information.
  • 01:09:25So to me the part of that task,
  • 01:09:28if this is kind of a basic surgical
  • 01:09:32team is would be to see if I would
  • 01:09:35have the opportunity to have extended
  • 01:09:38interviews and with members of the
  • 01:09:41staff of the surgery staff and then
  • 01:09:44the question would be, you know,
  • 01:09:47the closing ranks and protecting.
  • 01:09:49Person dies that would be inevitable
  • 01:09:52that I would consider my abs.
  • 01:09:55I agree with you,
  • 01:09:56those can be extremely trying cases.
  • 01:10:12So I don't see anything else in the chat
  • 01:10:14I I was going to ask you that about the.
  • 01:10:17One of the slides you started out
  • 01:10:19with the the 1936 article from
  • 01:10:21Seltzer about the difference in the
  • 01:10:23rate of disability of people in the
  • 01:10:25VA versus from the military records.
  • 01:10:27Because I've seen some recent
  • 01:10:30literature that describes that
  • 01:10:32process and there are sort of legit.
  • 01:10:34There are some legitimate reasons why
  • 01:10:37people would minimize symptoms that they
  • 01:10:39have while they're currently serving,
  • 01:10:42but then bring them up more after
  • 01:10:44they're discharged from the service,
  • 01:10:46including things.
  • 01:10:47Like the stigma of reporting,
  • 01:10:50particularly mental health symptoms
  • 01:10:52when one is actively in the service,
  • 01:10:55particularly during wartime.
  • 01:10:56Uh, ANOTHER is that it might reflect
  • 01:10:59negatively on someone's chances of promotion.
  • 01:11:02And once someone's left the service,
  • 01:11:05those things are no longer a
  • 01:11:08consideration and people may feel
  • 01:11:10freer to to disclose the symptoms that
  • 01:11:13they're that they're experiencing.
  • 01:11:17Yeah, I, I think I think all that is true.
  • 01:11:20I also think that and I I did
  • 01:11:22not serve in the military.
  • 01:11:24But I also think under the stress
  • 01:11:26of combat where all of you are
  • 01:11:29experiencing you from my stress is a
  • 01:11:31very different world that when you
  • 01:11:33come back to civilian life and the
  • 01:11:35entire different set of stresses
  • 01:11:37there that you're experiencing. But.
  • 01:11:41Many times he seems I think then become
  • 01:11:45much more of an issue at that time.
  • 01:11:48And you wonder whether or not we could
  • 01:11:51do might do a better job in terms of
  • 01:11:54bringing people back and socializing, etc.
  • 01:11:56A colleague of mine in the past, in fact,
  • 01:12:01is was doing a lot of work with DoD
  • 01:12:04and they were trying to use a virtual.
  • 01:12:06They were using virtual realities
  • 01:12:08as a way of training people how
  • 01:12:11to be effective at killing.
  • 01:12:13And one question he asked wouldn't do
  • 01:12:15get a great response on what are you
  • 01:12:17going to do to help deprogram them.
  • 01:12:19Once they're done,
  • 01:12:20and I think that that becomes a huge
  • 01:12:24issue of we teach you how to become
  • 01:12:27desensitized in that practically makes
  • 01:12:29sense in terms of combat situations,
  • 01:12:32but we doing enough at the other
  • 01:12:34end and then of course,
  • 01:12:36then there's obviously PTSD,
  • 01:12:38which is many times we see a delayed onset,
  • 01:12:42was there.
  • 01:12:46OK, well take thank you very
  • 01:12:48much for your presentation and
  • 01:12:49for your discussion with us today.
  • 01:12:51On behalf of everyone,
  • 01:12:52I just want to express our
  • 01:12:54gratitude for your being here in
  • 01:12:56person even though in person meant
  • 01:12:59so much of a virtual presence.
  • 01:13:01But it was great having you
  • 01:13:03with us and I'm so glad that
  • 01:13:05we were able to conclude with
  • 01:13:06this grand rounds presentation.
  • 01:13:09Well, thank you so much again for having me.