Is it possible to fake ptsd

You have a clinician bias -- 'Oh, they were in a war' -- that leads to an early PTSD diagnosis, when in fact the most common response to trauma is depression or anxiety. If it does [turn out to be] misattributed, you can address the underlying pathology instead of progressing down the PTSD treatment path, which is inappropriate and won't get optimal results. Once misattributed PTSD is ruled out, the clinician should look at the symptoms and say, 'Are they being volitionally produced or not?

If they are being intentionally produced, "Physicians in the past have attributed it to malingering PTSD," but clinicians should dig deeper and see whether it's being produced for primary or secondary gain. Only if it's produced for secondary gain -- external rewards such as getting out of legal responsibility in a criminal case -- is it actual malingering, according to Matto.

This is a common strategy in civil cases as well, he said. As for malingering, "I get called in for challenging or diagnostically unclear cases, so probably see more of it than most," said Matto.

Although it can be hard to address, "If someone's malingering it's because they want something. I had to talk him out of it by categorically refusing to go on PTSD meds in the first place. But I do know that if I went with the PTSD diagnosis, I would have joined a long line of people who were misdiagnosed with the condition. I would have been on a cocktail of behavior-modifying, mood-altering, and thought-inhibiting drugs.

I felt that I also would have been at risk to lose access to my firearms or perhaps even my security clearance although I later found out PTSD is not necessarily a disqualifier for a clearance. And most importantly, I never would have gotten help with my real, underlying health condition. I respect doctors and almost always heed medical advice or believe professional diagnoses. If a doctor looks at an X-ray and tells me my leg is broken, I believe him.

Further complicating the situation is that many symptoms of PTSD are similar to those of other conditions. In my case, my sleep apnea was characterized by nightmares, sleep deprivation, headaches, dry mouth, mood swings, and anxiety.

So if I would not have questioned the initial diagnosis, I would have been on a treatment regimen of questionable effectiveness AND my underlying condition, sleep apnea, would have remained untreated, leaving me drugged up AND still unable to sleep.

The evidence of over-diagnosis of PTSD in the veteran community is not just anecdotal, nor is it unique to the US military. If true, those are some pretty damning figures. PTSD can be triggered years after a person experiences trauma. Symptoms usually show up about three months after a traumatic event, but you could develop the condition years, even decades, later.

That can be especially true when it comes to trauma experienced at a young age. This is often seen in people who experienced childhood physical or sexual abuse. They might have suppressed memories of this trauma and then are triggered later on when they are adults.

Cameron Ritchie cites the example of Vietnam veterans. Many of them experienced their trauma about 50 years ago, but experience trigger events for their PTSD decades later. Given that many people who experience PTSD have experienced trauma from sexual assaults or major life-threatening accidents, it can take years and decades to get over the lasting effects of those kinds of experiences. PTSD is like that. If you are suffering from trauma of some kind, it takes a long time to work through that.

It is nothing close to a weakness or something anyone should feel guilty about. By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Health Topics. Health Tools. Reviewed: September 25, Medically Reviewed.