Abstract
Claims of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continue to pose a major challenge both to clinical and to forensic experts and unjustified diagnoses of PTSD occur at an unacceptably high rate. The Morel Emotional Numbing Test (MENT) was developed to identify noncredible PTSD claims. However, the test author expects a diminished performance with advanced age of patients and in the presence of neurocognitive impairment. We investigated a sample of 70 presumably bona-fide adult neurological in-patients between 18 and 59 years of age and an older clinical group of 41 in-patient from age 70. With an acceptable false-positive rate of 10.0% in younger and middle-aged neurological patients on MENT error scores, there was an elevated rate of errors above cutoff (34.1%) for the older patient group. MENT scores correlated significantly with age (rho = .57), but not with education. Correlations with available scores on performance validity tests (Reliable Digit Span for all patients; Medical Symptom Validity Test, Test of Memory Malingering, and Reliable Spatial Span for the younger group) were either low or non-significant. Within the geriatric group, 13 patients were diagnosed with a dementing condition. MENT error scores did not differ between the subgroups with and without dementia. While MENT error scores appear to be relatively robust against the presence of neurological conditions in adults under 60 years of age, the same is not true for older patients from age 70. Care should be taken to use the test in geriatric patient groups with cognitive impairment.