This article describes the development and preliminary validation of the Morel Emotional Numbing Test for PTSD (MENT), a forced-choice test for detecting response bias in assessments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The differences in MENT error rates among four groups of military veterans applying for monetary compensation for combat-related PTSD and two groups of hospitalized military veterans were investigated (N = 102): (a) disability claimants with veritable self-presentations, who were diagnosed with PTSD; (b) disability claimants with veritable self-presentations, who were not diagnosed with PTSD; (c) older disability claimants (age 63 or older) with veritable self-presentations; (d) disability claimants with suspect self-presentations; (e) chemical-dependent inpatients; and (f) schizophrenic inpatients. Veritable versus suspect grouping among disability claimants was determined by examining MMPI-2 F-K dissimulation index scores. The results indicated that the suspect group produced more errors on the MENT than the credible groups or the hospitalized patient groups (p < .0001). Clinical decision rules were used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the MENT to identify malingering in the claimant groups. The overall efficiency or hit rate on the MENT was 95.6%.
The most commonly feigned cognitive and psychiatric disorders for survivors of traumatic injury are memory dysfunction and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The position of the National Academy of Neuropsychology is that symptom validity tests (SVTs) should be part of any comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. In this article the Morel Emotional Numbing Test for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (MENT), a SVT for PTSD, was compared to a SVT for memory, the Word Memory Test (WMT). Available archival data on 216 consecutive referrals for neuropsychological evaluations at the Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System were reviewed. Of the total records reviewed 37 patients had been administered both the MENT and the WMT. The clinically recommended cutoff on the WMT was used as the main criterion to classify patients into two groups: simulating impairment or credible. The results indicated that the simulating impairment group had significantly more errors on the MENT than the credible group did (p <.0001). The criterion-related characteristics of the MENT in assessing response bias in relation to the WMT were confirmed Clinical and research implications of the utilization of the MENT are discussed in this study.
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