Walsh & Hoyt: Malingering

Patients whose symptoms are consciously and voluntarily produced are said to be malingering. A symptom reported by a malingerer, such as diplopia, is not psychogenic because the patient is not, in fact, experiencing the symptom. Malingering can be divided into several different categories, including simulation of nonexistent disease, elaboration of preexisting disease, and attribution of a disability to a different cause, usually in the setting of potential compensation.