Utility of the trauma symptom inventory's atypical response scale in detecting malingered post-traumatic stress disorder

Assessment. 2005 Jun;12(2):210-9. doi: 10.1177/1073191105275456.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Malingering / diagnosis*
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Simulation
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnosis*