Abstract
Our study involved three samples (N=85; N=38, and N=27) of asylum seekers in a Dutch psychiatric hospital. We looked at how often they reported severe dissociative episodes (i.e., not recognizing oneself in a mirror; seeing traumatic images in a mirror) and whether these symptoms were related to deviant performance on Symptom Validity Tests (SVTs), notably items from the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS; Widows & Smith, 2005) and a forced-choice task modeled after the Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT; Morel, 1998). We also examined whether poor language proficiency and the presence of incentives to exaggerate symptoms might affect scores on SVTs. Dissociative target symptoms were reported by considerable percentages of patients (27-63%). Patients who reported these symptoms had significantly more often deviant scores on SVT items compared with those who did not report such symptoms. With a few exceptions, deviant scores on SVT items were associated with incentives rather than poor language skills. We conclude that the validity of self-reported symptoms in this target group should not be taken for granted and that SVTs may yield important information.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 40–46 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | International Journal of Law and Psychiatry |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | Part A |
Early online date | 18 May 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Transcultural psychiatry
- Symptom validity tests
- Refugees, asylum seekers
- Symptom over-reporting
- POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER
- DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES SCALE
- STRUCTURED-INVENTORY
- INADEQUATE EFFORT
- RESPONSE BIAS
- RELIABILITY
- PREVALENCE
- VALIDATION
- SIMS