Abstract
Since time immemorial, humans have tried to feign physical and mental illnesses for various reasons. This led to the development of the concept of illness deception or malingering when one tries to assume a sick role and feigns signs and symptoms to gain external incentives. The conceptual framework of malingering has undergone several changes and there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that malingering exists. However, the diagnosis of malingering has not yet been established in the mainstream psychiatric nosological systems and still it is present in the appendices as an additional area requiring attention. This is due to the poor construct validity of the diagnosis, problems in defining malingering, problems in assessment by psychological tests and clinical assessment methodology, no well-established guidelines to detect malingering and issues related to labelling/reporting malingering. Because of several controversies in multiple domains of assessment and ethical-social issues, malingering as a distinct entity is grossly neglected. In the upcoming arena of law suits and consumer benefits suits, it is extremely important to have a better understanding of the conceptual issues related to malingering and the controversies related to it. In this review, a brief overview of evolution of concepts and controversies related to malingering is described.
Published Version
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