Malingering is not considered a mental illness. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV- TR) , malingering receives a V code as one of the other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention.1
Pathophysiology
Malingering is deliberate behavior for a known external purpose. It is not considered a form of mental illness or psychopathology, although it can occur in the context of other mental illnesses.
Mortality/Morbidity
The total cost of health insurance fraud in the United States (including untruthful claims by patients and medical personnel) was more than $59 billion in 1995, resulting in a cost of $1050 in added premiums for the average American family.2
Clinical
History
* Strongly suspect malingering in the presence of any combination of the following:
o Medicolegal presentation (eg, an attorney refers patient, a patient is seeking compensation for injury)
o Marked discrepancy between the claimed distress and the objective findings
o Lack of cooperation during evaluation and in complying with prescribed treatment
o Presence of an antisocial personality disorder3
* Malingering often is associated with an antisocial personality disorder and a histrionic personality style.
* Prolonged direct observation can reveal evidence of malingering because it is difficult for the person who is malingering to maintain consistency with the false or exaggerated claims for extended periods.
* The person who is malingering usually lacks knowledge of the nuances of the feigned disorder. For example, someone complaining of carpal tunnel syndrome may be referred to occupational therapy, where the person who is malingering would be unable to predict the effect of true carpal tunnel syndrome on tasks in the wood shop.
* Prolonged interview and examination of a person suspected of a malingering disorder may induce fatigue and diminish the ability of the person who is malingering to maintain the deception. Rapid firing of questions increases the likelihood of contradictory or inconsistent responses. Asking leading questions may induce the person to endorse symptoms of a different illness. Questions about improbable symptoms may yield positive responses. However, because some of these techniques may induce similar responses in some patients with genuine psychiatric disorders, exercise caution in reaching a conclusion of malingering.
* Persons malingering psychotic disorders often exaggerate hallucinations and delusions but cannot mimic formal thought disorders. They usually cannot feign blunted affect, concrete thinking, or impaired interpersonal relatedness. They frequently assume that dense amnesia and disorientation are features of psychosis. It should be noted that these descriptions also may apply to some patients with genuine psychiatric disorders. For example, individuals with a delusional disorder can have unshakable beliefs and bizarre ideas without formal thought disorder or affective blunting.4
* The most common goals of people who malinger in the emergency department are obtaining drugs and shelter. In the clinic or office, the most common goal is financial compensation.5
Physical
Typically, deficits on physical examination do not follow known anatomical distributions.
The following can be found on a Mental Status Examination:6, 7
* A patient's attitude toward the examining physician is often vague or evasive.
* Mood may be irritable or hostile.
* Thought processes are generally cogent. Thought content is marked by preoccupation with the claimed illness or injury.
* Threats of suicide may follow any challenge to the veracity of the claim, or a response deemed by the malingerer to be inadequate.
* As noted under History, persons with malingering psychotic disorders often exaggerate hallucinations and delusions but cannot mimic formal thought disorders. They usually cannot feign blunted affect, concrete thinking, or impaired interpersonal relatedness. They frequently assume that dense amnesia and disorientation are features of psychosis. These descriptions may also apply to some patients with genuine psychiatric disorders. For example, individuals with a delusional disorder can have unshakable beliefs and bizarre ideas without formal thought disorder or affective blunting.
