Utility of the trauma symptom inventory's atypical response scale in detecting malingered post-traumatic stress disorder.
The authors examined the Trauma Symptom Inventory's (TSI) ability to discriminate 88 student post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) simulators screened for genuine PTSD from 48 clinical PTSD-diagnosed outpatients. Results demonstrated between-group differences on several TSI clinical scales and the Atypical Response (ATR) validity scale. Discriminant function analysis using ATR revealed 75% correct patient classification but only 48% correct simulator classification, with an overall correct classification rate of 59% (positive predictive power [PPP] = .71; negative predictive power [NPP] = .51). Individual ATR cutoff scores did not yield impressive classification results, with the optimal cutoff (T score = 61) correctly classifying only 61% of simulators and patients (PPP = .66, NPP = .54). Although ATR was not developed as a malingered PTSD screen, instead serving as a general validity screen, caution is recommended in its current clinical use for detecting malingered PTSD.
Elhai
Jon D
JD
Disaster Mental Health Institute, University of South Dakota, Vermillion 57069-2390, USA. jonelhai@hotmail.com
Gray
Matthew J
MJ
Naifeh
James A
JA
Butcher
Jimmie J
JJ
Davis
Joanne L
JL
Falsetti
Sherry A
SA
Best
Connie L
CL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016544:Patient Simulation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis*