Brechje Dandachi-Fitzgerald (Netherlands)
Maastricht University
Clinical Psychological Science
Brechje Dandachi-FitzGerald works as an assistant professor at Maastricht University. Her research focuses specifically on the overreporting of symptoms and underperformance on cognitive tests in patients clinically referred for psychological assessment. In 2017 she completed her dissertation 'Symptom Validity in Clinical Assessments'. In 2020 she received the Early Career Award from the Dutch Neuropsychological Association for her research. In addition to assessing overreporting of symptoms using specialized tests, her research seeks to understand the drivers and consequences of this behavior, as well as how clinicians deal with it in practice. In addition, her current academic interest focuses on the negative effects of psychotherapy. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. She combines her research and teaching activities with a position at Mondriaan, a mental health care institution in the south of the Netherlands, where she provides psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy.

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 Conference Calendar

A Lowlands Perspective on Exaggeration and Feigned Symptoms

Session Name
0820 - LIVE - Workshop 04: Trans-National Perspectives on Exaggeration: Misassessment, Misdiagnosis, and Missed Opportunities (ID 148)
Session Type
Educational
Date
Sun, 05.06.2022
Session Time
10:00 - 11:30
Room
Hall D
Session Icon
Fully Live
Presenter
Lecture Time
10:17 - 10:34

Abstract

Abstract Body

Some patients present symptoms in an exaggerated manner [1,2]. This behavior can be assessed with specialized tests: Symptom validity tests (SVTs) to measure overreporting of symptoms, and performance validity tests (PVTs) to measure underperformance on cognitive tests. But what does it mean when patients fail on multiple SVTs and/or PVTs? Does it reflect malingering; i.e. grossly exaggerating or feigning symptoms to gain an external benefit? Could it be seen as a plea for help in some cases? Or could pain, fatigue or cognitive impairment be underlying reasons for the validity test failures? In this presentation some credible and non-credible explanations for failing on validity tests will be discussed. A tentative framework that might aid in conceptualizing poor symptom validity will be presented.

References

[1] Dandachi-FitzGerald, B., Merckelbach, H., Bošković, I., & Jelicic, M. (2020). Do you know people who feign? Proxy respondents about feigned symptoms. Psychological Injury and Law, 13, 225–234.

[2] Merckelbach, H., Dandachi-FitzGerald, B., van Helvoort, D., Jelicic, M., & Otgaar, H. (2019). When patients overreport symptoms: More than just malingering. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 321–326.

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