Malingering following Minor head trauma

Abstract

The possibility of malingering should be considered whenever an opportunity for financial gain exists or when the subjective complaints outweigh the objective findings. Minor-head-injury patients often meet one or both of these criteria. Four cases of probable malingering and one case of possible malingering after minor head injury are discussed. Observations of untruthfulness, test abnormalities more severe than predicted by knowledge of the injury, bizarre results on Face-Hand (Double Simultaneous Stimulation) testing, and especially forced-choice testing of memory complaints provided useful diagnostic data in these cases. Performance on a forced-choice technique that is significantly worse than chance is presumed to result from the deliberate production of wrong answers. An improved method of forced-choice testing based on work by Hiscock and Hiscock (in press) is presented.