Feigned psychosis--a review of the simulation of mental illness.
The literature on the simulation of psychosis is reviewed and six patients who were thought to be feigning a schizophrenic psychosis were studied. On follow-up, all but one of the patients became overtly schizophrenic. It is argued that the simulation of schizophrenia is a prodromal phase of the psychosis occurring in extremely deviant premorbid personalities.
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005162:Factitious Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013997:Time Factors