Sailor Malingered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Men and women who serve in the US military can be exposed to extremely traumatic situations in combat and, sometimes, in non-combat situations. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition (DSM-IV), military combat is exactly the type of stressful event that can lead to the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There are several other specific elements that are required in order to meet the diagnostic criteria for this mental disorder.

The DSM-IV specifically states that malingering should be ruled out in situations where an external incentive (such as disability benefits) can be obtained on the basis of PTSD.

Although the exact number of military service people who are not honest about their exposure to severe traumas is not known, it is reasonable to assume that the great majority of American servicemen and servicewomen honestly represent their exposure to traumas and the psychological symptoms which can result. However, servicemen or servicewomen may occasionally engage in malingering, the deliberate exaggeration or faking of psychological symptoms, in order to obtain external incentives.

One such incident of apparently malingered PTSD was reported by Brad Wong in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on December 8, 2006. In this case, a former sailor acknowledged that he had purposefully faked symptoms of PTSD in order to obtain federal benefits in the amount of $174,000. The sailor admitted he was not being honest when he said he had seen a non-military worker drown after falling from a ship, that he had seen a member of the military die on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and that he had been thrown into deep water during his basic training and was unable to swim.

On the basis of these claims the Department of Veterans Affairs had awarded him about $134,000 and he had received an additional $40,000 in benefits from the Social Security Administration.

According to this article, the sailor is scheduled to be sentenced in 2007.

Standard psychological tests, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) have been scientifically demonstrated to be useful in determining if an individual is engaging in exaggeration or faking of psychological symptoms, such as PTSD. The Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), another psychological test, was specifically designed to identify the pattern of symptoms that is consistent with PTSD and, like the MMPI-2, has validity scales that can be helpful in distinguishing between genuine and exaggerated symptoms of PTSD.

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