Some people try to trick the psychologist by simulating symptoms so that the professional makes a diagnosis that interests them. We are talking about a serious problem, in front of which psychologists are often helpless: this professional’s performance depends on the honesty of the Then, what can psychologists do not to be fooled?
Lying can become an art. Identification is therefore a real challenge for specialists, so specific measuring instruments are needed to unmask these “fictitious” patients.
- In this sense.
- And in order to detect patterns of falsification and exaggeration of symptoms.
- The Structured Inventory of Symptom Simulation (SIMS) has been developed.
- Which allows to contrast the simulation hypothesis and increase the reliability.
- Validity and accuracy of the psychological evaluation.
It is the psychologist’s responsibility to judge the accuracy and reliability of any source that may influence the outcome of the evaluation and, if possible, corroborate the information, so it is necessary to consider the possibility that the patient is in the field of deception. Sometimes family and friends can be more reliable than the patient himself, especially in cases of anosognosia.
The problem: the symptoms or testimonies given by these individuals cannot be the subject of extensive research, even if it is because of the amount of resources that would be required, so you should choose to explore what can be analyzed: symptoms, observations and clinic. patient’s condition, so the possible claim for the disease could be determined, according to scientific criteria and diagnoses.
The SIMS aims to detect the simulation of psychopathological and neuropsychological symptoms, it is an analytical instrument composed of 75 dichotomical response items (true or false), in addition to 5 scales of 15 items each:
To set the simulation or not, there are critical points on each scale. Thus, the score on each of them can detect symptoms that occur atypically; or how the person analyzed tries to distort a specific disorder. This allows you to know both the degree of simulation suspected and the areas in which it appears.
Its application time is very fast, ranging from 10 to 15 minutes. It can be used as a test to quickly and effectively identify clinical signs; or as part of a wider, more complete and complete battery of evidence, in addition to being applicable in different contexts and adapting to different conditions and needs of a clinical, work, forensic and / or forensic nature.
Symptom simulation is more common among those involved in a criminal investigation or civil litigation, as well as in the claim process for the inability to insure or compensate a worker; However, this test is also useful for detecting store thieves who pass as kleptomans in to avoid prosecution or use it as mitigation at trial.
Symptom simulation is not technically a psychiatric disease, in all cases it is ideal to keep it in the report when the person has consciously and voluntarily tried to deceive the examiner by applying measures such as structured symptom simulation inventory.