Predictors of health service use were assessed using archival data of 87 male combat veterans with combat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at an outpatient Veterans Affairs Medical Center PTSD clinic. Predictor variables included predisposing demographic, illness/need, and enabling resource variables. Criterion variables included indexes of health service use. Results revealed no significant predictors of PTSD-related or primary care health service consumption. Lower scores on measures of symptom overreporting and anxiety predicted specialty care service use. Race (Caucasian) and marital status (currently married) predicted prescription of psychiatric medications. Clinical implications are considered, with a focus on the impact of racial group status as well as symptom exaggeration on health service utilization in PTSD patients.

The ARES (ANAM Readiness Evaluation System) is a cognitive testing system designed for operation on palm OS handheld computers i.e., Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). It provides an inexpensive and portable testing platform for field and clinical applications. ARES test batteries can be configured from a library of tests derived from the ANAM test system. ARES features include support of multiple users on a single PDA, a Microsoft Windows test battery authoring program, and a program for downloading, viewing, graphing, and archiving data. In validity tests, the same subjects were tested on identical ARES and conventional ANAM NeuroCog test batteries. Scores from the two platforms correlated highly, but absolute scores differed slightly. In reliability testing with the ARES Warrior battery, ARES scores were highly correlated in daily tests.

In this article, we combine two analogue experiments in which we empirically examined three malingering methodological issues in individuals trained and instructed to simulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995). In Experiment 1, we examined TSI scale effects of the following manipulations using a 2 x 2 design with 330 college students: (a) inclusion or exclusion of cautionary instructions regarding believability of participants' simulation and (b) different financial incentive levels. In Experiment 2, we examined comorbid psychiatric diagnostic training with 180 college students who were either trained to simulate PTSD and comorbid major depressive disorder or trained to simulate only PTSD. Caution main effects were significant for all but two TSI Clinical Scales, incentive main effects and interactions were only significant for one Clinical scale each, and the comorbidity manipulation did not yield any scale differences. We discuss malingering research design implications regarding the use of cautionary instructions, financial incentive levels, and comorbid training.

While the life-threatening nature of severe chemical burns requires an immediate focus on the physical status, long-term psychological functioning in these patients with now concurrent pathology often receives much less attention. A variety of reactions and adjustment issues may present following a burn injury. Treating the psychological aspects is often complicated and difficult, but even more so when the patient has pre-existing psychiatric illness. The current article describes the psychological treatment of an African American patient with chemical burn and significant pre-existing psychopathology in a community mental health setting. The authors purport that a comprehensive treatment approach to burn related injury