[Dissociation (conversion) - malingering - antisocial personality disorder: differential diagnostic reflection on the...

In this case report we refer to the big challenge of making a diagnosis in a deliberate malingering in the field of mental disorders. We specifically describe the difficulty regarding the differentiation between a conversion disorder and malingering of a serial delinquent. For such a person avoiding criminal persecution is one of the most frequent reason to deceitfully simulate a mental illness. In this field, symptoms of conversion disorders exceed the average; furthermore, a great number of organic-neurological illnesses may appear to be very similar to a conversion disorder or in many cases a neurological disorder can actually be detected in the course of a somatic examination. A further obstacle for the differential diagnosis can be seen in the difficulty to discern it from factitious disorders. However, it is quite possible to discern the deliberate malingering of a mental disorder from a conversion disorder by means of the diligent diagnosis of a competent and experienced doctor/assessor who specialises.