Feigned insanity in nineteenth‐century America: Tactics, trials, and truth

Abstract

Abstract Feigned insanity in nineteenth‐century America is appraised through a review of the medical and legal literature. The authors focus on the explanations for feigning, procedures used in uncovering feigning, and the role of feigning in the courtroom. This discussion of feigned insanity demonstrates the remarkable consistency of approach to this form of malingering over the past 200 years.