College of Charleston researchers continue to be recognized for a groundbreaking study into the national phenomenon of college adults exaggerating symptoms to obtain diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders. College of Charleston psychologist Brian Sullivan, psychology professor Kim May and Lynne Galbally (former College of Charleston pyschometrist) were the first in the nation to publish on this topic in 2007. Now, their work has been added to a SAGE six-volume “Neuropsychology” set. Their work, “Symptom Exaggeration by College Adults in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disorder Assessments,” appears in Volume Two: Cognitive Neuropsychology.
“To be included in a compendium four years later really shows the impact our research has had on the field,” Sullivan says. “It served as a wake up call. Some college adults are either exaggerating or lying about their symptoms and impairments so they could be given special academic accommodations or prescription medicine. It is happening across the nation and it is happening at high levels.”
The group’s research showed that 12- to 15-percent of college adults who were assessed for learning disorders were exaggerating their symptoms. In fact, almost 50-percent of students assessed for ADHD were distorting their symptoms. Sullivan says their test results were so exaggerated that they look like patients with Alzheimer’s disease – who would be unable to care for themselves.
The research was groundbreaking on several accounts. It was the first to study this phenomenon outside of a lab and to document the behavior of actual patients. Developers of questionnaires used in these diagnostic evaluations did not previously realize so many people might misrepresent themselves, which is why the College of Charleston researchers added independent methods to their assessment. This study was also the first one outside of medico-legal environments to document the importance of using methods to detect exaggeration or lying in adult ADHD/LD evaluations.
“We helped practitioners recognize what these college adults are doing,” May says. “Nearly a dozen other researchers across the U.S. have published studies that show results very similar to ours. We also published a follow-up study and have another study we hope to be ready for review for publication in Fall 2012.”
Sullivan would like to see the American Psychological Association develop practice guidelines for anyone doing assessments of these disorders. He says that will help to control access to abusable prescription stimulant drugs and increase the resources available to college adults who truly suffer these disorders.
For more information, contact Brian Sullivan at sullivanb@cofc.edu or Kim May at mayk@cofc.edu.
