Malingering Versus Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

In military medicine, the detection of malingering is a necessary function of mental health practitioners. Exposure to life-threatening events can produce the stress-related psychiatric condition of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD. The nature of war can lead to genuine PTSD or the conscious simulation of symptoms of PTSD for secondary gain. Since malingering has a significant impact on the military and its mission, the importance of differentiating malingering from genuine PTSD makes it relevant that the present state of the art and science of this process be presented in this book.