%0 Journal Article
%T Validity of symptom reports of asylum seekers in a psychiatric hospital: a descriptive study
%J International journal of law and psychiatry
%D 2016
%A van der Heide, Douwe
%A Merckelbach, Harald
%V 49
%N Pt A
%P 40-46
%X 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.<br><br>Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Elsevier Publishing
%@ 0160-2527
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.05.007