Malingered Mental Health: Legal Review and Clinical Challenges in English and Welsh Law

Beazley, Peter and Emmett, Charlotte (2022) Malingered Mental Health: Legal Review and Clinical Challenges in English and Welsh Law. Journal of Mental Health Law, 28. pp. 10-53. ISSN 2056-3922

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Abstract

Malingering – the feigning of mental or physical health symptoms for external gain – is a significant problem for clinicians, the courts, and society. For clinicians working in mental health settings, it is a complex task to differentiate malingered presentations from genuine ones, with a range of potential legal and ethical questions facing the clinician who conducts this task. Yet, the malingering of mental health problems has a range of potential impacts. For the courts, malingering presents a significant threat to their basic function by acting as a significant impediment to truth. For society, malingering wastes clinical time, leaves the potential for injustice to occur in response to criminal acts, and has a significant financial burden in unwarranted civil payments. The focus of the present review is therefore to review the issue of malingering from a legal perspective, leading to a consideration of recommendations for a clinician faced with assessing a client suspected of malingering behaviour.

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