Dissimulation function in some functional psychoses.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Self-appraising ability is crucial for social interaction.
• Dissimulation, or the tendency to conceal or misrepresent, can indicate deficits in self-perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the dissimulation function as a potential indicator of impaired self-appraising ability.
• To compare dissimulation levels between non-psychiatric individuals and psychiatric patients with psychotic disorders.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Lie-Scale scores to estimate the dissimulation function.
• Compared 60 non-psychiatric normal individuals with 133 psychiatric cases from two major psychotic groups.

Main Results:

• A significant difference in dissimulation was found between normal and abnormal individuals.
• Psychiatric patients exhibited significantly higher levels of dissimulation compared to the normal group.
• Dissimulation did not correlate with illness chronicity but showed a partial relationship with illness typology.

Conclusions:

• Dissimulation, as measured by Lie-Scale scores, serves as a valid indicator of impaired self-appraising ability in individuals.
• Psychotic disorders are associated with heightened dissimulation, suggesting difficulties in self-perception relative to others.
• The degree of dissimulation is influenced by the type of psychotic illness rather than its duration.