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The Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS): a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Clinical Neuropsychologist 2014We meta-analytically reviewed studies that used the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) to detect feigned psychopathology. We present weighted mean... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
We meta-analytically reviewed studies that used the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) to detect feigned psychopathology. We present weighted mean diagnostic accuracy and predictive power indices in various populations, based on 31 studies, including 61 subsamples and 4009 SIMS protocols. In addition, we provide normative data of patients, claimants, defendants, nonclinical adults, and various experimental feigners, based on 41 studies, including 125 subsamples and 4810 SIMS protocols. We conclude that the SIMS (1) is able to differentiate well between instructed feigners and honest responders; (2) generates heightened scores in groups that are known to have a raised prevalence of feigning (e.g., offenders who claim crime-related amnesia); (3) may overestimate feigning in patients who suffer from schizophrenia, intellectual disability, or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures; and (4) is fairly robust against coaching. The diagnostic power of the traditional cut scores of the SIMS (i.e., > 14 and > 16) is not so much limited by their sensitivity—which is satisfactory—but rather by their substandard specificity. This, however, can be worked around by combining the SIMS with other symptom validity measures and by raising the cut score, although the latter solution sacrifices sensitivity for specificity.
Topics: Humans; Interview, Psychological; Malingering; Neuropsychological Tests; Personality Inventory; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 25494444
DOI: 10.1080/13854046.2014.984763 -
Child Neuropsychology : a Journal on... 2015The assessment of response validity is now considered an important and necessary component of neuropsychological evaluations. One way for assessing response validity is... (Review)
Review
The assessment of response validity is now considered an important and necessary component of neuropsychological evaluations. One way for assessing response validity is with performance validity tests (PVTs), which measure the degree of effort applied to testing to achieve optimal performance. Numerous studies have shown that normal and neurologically impaired children are capable of passing certain free-standing PVTs using adult cutoffs. Despite this, PVT use appears to be more common in adults compared to children. The overall purpose of this systematic review is to provide the reader with a general overview of the existing literature on PVTs in children. As part of this review, goals are to inform the reader why PVT use is not as prevalent in children compared to adults, to discuss why PVTs and related methods are important in pediatric cognitive evaluations, and to discuss practical limitations and future directions.
Topics: Adult; Child; Cognition Disorders; Disability Evaluation; Female; Humans; Malingering; Memory Disorders; Neuropsychological Tests; Reference Standards
PubMed: 24344790
DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2013.864383 -
Clinical Psychology Review Feb 2014Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) has long been surrounded by controversy due to disagreement about its etiology and the validity of its associated phenomena.... (Review)
Review
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) has long been surrounded by controversy due to disagreement about its etiology and the validity of its associated phenomena. Researchers have conducted studies comparing people diagnosed with DID and people simulating DID in order to better understand the disorder. The current research presents a systematic review of this DID simulation research. The literature consists of 20 studies and contains several replicated findings. Replicated differences between the groups include symptom presentation, identity presentation, and cognitive processing deficits. Replicated similarities between the groups include interidentity transfer of information as shown by measures of recall, recognition, and priming. Despite some consistent findings, this research literature is hindered by methodological flaws that reduce experimental validity.
Topics: Cognition; Dissociative Identity Disorder; Humans; Symptom Assessment
PubMed: 24291657
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.10.008 -
Assessment Mar 2012Reliable Digit Span (RDS) is a heavily researched symptom validity test with a recent literature review yielding more than 20 studies ranging in dates from 1994 to 2011.... (Review)
Review
Reliable Digit Span (RDS) is a heavily researched symptom validity test with a recent literature review yielding more than 20 studies ranging in dates from 1994 to 2011. Unfortunately, limitations within some of the research minimize clinical generalizability. This systematic review and cross-validation study was conducted to address these limitations, thus increasing the measure's clinical utility. Sensitivity and specificity rates were calculated for the ≤6 and ≤7 cutoffs when data were globally combined and divided by clinical groups. The cross-validation of specific diagnostic groups was consistent with the data reported in the literature. Overall, caution should be used when utilizing the ≤7 cutoff in all clinical groups and when utilizing the ≤6 cutoff in the following groups: cerebrovascular accident, severe memory disorders, mental retardation, borderline intellectual functioning, and English as a second language. Additional limitations and cautions are provided.
Topics: Bayes Theorem; Brain Injuries; Cognition Disorders; Confidence Intervals; Humans; Malingering; Nervous System Diseases; Neuropsychological Tests; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 22156721
DOI: 10.1177/1073191111428764 -
General Hospital Psychiatry 2011Deliberate foreign body ingestion (DFBI) is often impulsively driven, repetitive and refractory to intervention and frequently necessitates multiple medical... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
Deliberate foreign body ingestion (DFBI) is often impulsively driven, repetitive and refractory to intervention and frequently necessitates multiple medical interventions. As such, the frustrations among health care providers are great, and the financial toll on health care is significant. Nevertheless, the literature on DFBI is sparse, and suggestions for treatment planning and management are limited. The authors sought to investigate and uncover efficacious treatments and strategies for preventing reoccurrence in DFBI. We build on earlier work by offering both broad and diagnosis-specific management strategies.
METHOD
A literature review was performed addressing the presentation, management and prevention of reoccurrences of DFBI. Four cases of DFBI are presented illustrating those psychiatric diagnoses (psychosis, malingering, obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder) most frequently encountered in hospital practice. Both broad and specific treatment approaches are presented.
RESULTS
Patients engaging in DFBI are best managed through a multidisciplinary approach, following acute medical management. Successful strategies for the prevention of reoccurrences of DFBI are inconclusive.
CONCLUSION
Understanding the function of this behavior is critical in developing treatment for patients who engage in these dangerous, potentially life-threatening, self-injurious behaviors. An amalgam of medical, pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral interventions is recommended, as is additional research.
Topics: Eating; Female; Foreign Bodies; Health Care Costs; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders; Self-Injurious Behavior; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 21851984
DOI: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2011.06.011 -
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica May 2003The aim of this study was to systematically examine ancient Roman and Greek texts to identify descriptions of schizophrenia and related disorders. (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to systematically examine ancient Roman and Greek texts to identify descriptions of schizophrenia and related disorders.
METHOD
Material from Greek and Roman literature dating from the 5th Century BC to the beginning of the 2nd Century AD was systematically reviewed for symptoms of mental illness. DSM IV criteria were applied in order to identify material related to schizophrenia and related disorders.
RESULTS
The general public had an awareness of psychotic disorders, because the symptoms were described in works of fiction and in historical accounts of malingering. There were isolated instances of text related to psychotic symptoms in the residents of ancient Rome and Greece, but no written material describing a condition that would meet modern diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.
CONCLUSION
In contrast to many other psychiatric disorders that are represented in ancient Greek and Roman literature, there were no descriptions of individuals with schizophrenia in the material assessed in this review.
Topics: Bipolar Disorder; Depressive Disorder; Greek World; History, Ancient; Humans; Medicine in Literature; Psychotic Disorders; Roman World; Schizophrenia; Terminology as Topic
PubMed: 12752027
DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0447.2003.00053.x -
Journal of the International... Mar 2000Complaints on cognitive functioning are often reported in patients suffering from whiplash syndrome, although objective neuropsychological test results do not always... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Complaints on cognitive functioning are often reported in patients suffering from whiplash syndrome, although objective neuropsychological test results do not always support these. In addition, radiological abnormalities and anatomical lesions are found only in a minority of these patients. This has led to a controversy about its existence in the literature. In this systematic review, the results of 22 neuropsychological studies on whiplash were quantitatively analyzed, focusing on working memory, attention, immediate and delayed recall, visuomotor tracking, and cognitive flexibility. Our findings suggest that a consistent overall pattern of cognitive dysfunction can be demonstrated after whiplash injury through neuropsychological testing, both compared to healthy and to asymptomatic controls. Six months after the accident, improvement is found in working memory, attention, immediate recall, and visuomotor tracking. The results are discussed in the light of recent findings on the effect of cerebral dysfunction, malingering, pain-related factors, and the role of coping strategies and posttraumatic stress on neuropsychological test performance.
Topics: Brain Injury, Chronic; Cognition Disorders; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Neuropsychological Tests; Whiplash Injuries
PubMed: 10824499
DOI: 10.1017/s1355617700633027