Cry for help as a root cause of poor symptom validity: A critical note

Brechje Dandachi-FitzGerald*, Harald Merckelbach, Thomas Merten

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

When patients fail symptom validity tests (SVTs) and/or performance validity tests (PVTs), their self-reported symptoms and test profiles are unreliable and cannot be taken for granted. There are many well-established causes of poor symptom validity and malingering is only of them. Some authors have proposed that a cry for help may underlie poor symptom validity. In this commentary, we argue that cry for help is a (1) metaphorical concept that is (2) difficult to operationalize and, at present, (3) impossible to falsify. We conclude that clinicians or forensic experts should not invoke cry for help as an explanation for poor symptom validity. To encourage conceptual clarity, we propose a tentative framework for explaining poor symptom validity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)527-532
Number of pages6
JournalApplied Neuropsychology-Adult
Volume31
Issue number4
Early online date23 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • Cry for help
  • MMPI-2
  • PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
  • SCALES
  • UTILITY
  • illness perception
  • malingering
  • performance validity
  • symptom validity

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Cry for help as a root cause of poor symptom validity: A critical note'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this