title: Developing a Symptom Validity Test for posttraumatic stress disorder: application of the binomial distribution.
abstract: The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in research on the detection of malingered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in civil litigation, other disability pension contexts, and in forensic cases. This article reviews the basic principles and statistical procedures that can be used to design and develop a Symptom Validity Test (SVT) for PTSD. We demonstrate how the practical application of the binomial distribution can detect response bias in specific psychiatric disorders such as PTSD and can provide empirically grounded probabilistic evidence of malingering. We cite the Morel Emotional Numbing Test for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (MENT) as an example.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Laboratory, Psychology Service 116B, Department of Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Health Care System, 1310 24th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212-2637, United States. k_morel@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.forename: Bryan E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Shepherd
mesh_terms: D016010:Binomial Distribution; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D047829:Vietnam Conflict