title: Validity of symptom reports of asylum seekers in a psychiatric hospital: A descriptive study.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Phoenix, ProPersona, Wolfheze, The Netherlands. Electronic address: douwevanderheide@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Douwe
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Heide
authors.affiliation: Forensic Psychology Section, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.merckelbach@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Refugees, asylum seekers; Symptom over-reporting; Symptom validity tests; Transcultural psychiatry