The Relationship of Mental Disorder to Suggestibility and Confabulation among Forensic Inpatients

Abstract

Abstract In this study the authors investigate the relationship of mental disorder and reality monitoring to suggestibility and confabulation in 32 patients from secure units. The patients completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 2), the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale, and the Reality Monitoring Task of Bentall et al (1991). Confabulatory responding was classified separately into ‘distortions’ and ‘fabrications’ in accordance with previous research. Patients with a history of hallucinations did not differ significantly from non-hallucinators with regard to suggestibility, compliance, or confabulation. Nor did scores from the Reality Monitoring Task correlate with confabulation, contrary to prediction. A retrospective analysis, based on psychiatric diagnosis, indicated that the patients with personality disorder exhibited more fabrications in recall than patients with schizophrenia.