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Patients Who Deceive Kindle Edition
Patients commonly tell healthcare providers false stories about their symptoms. Although some deceptions are understandable, others may seem senseless, self-destructive, and pathological. Author Loren Pankratz explains how the diagnostic manual sorts these people into meaningful categories, but he avoids viewing patients through the peephole of a diagnosis. He illuminates a broad spectrum of styles and methods of patients who withhold information, exaggerate, or manufacture a false history. Proper understanding will ultimately result in appropriate management and treatment.
The latest book of Dr. Pankratz, Patients Who Deceive, is fantastic! It is masterfully written, historically well documented, and very readable. With deft clarity he unfolds the complex, often confusing presentation of patients who deliberately or unwittingly misrepresent their symptoms. Using intriguing case examples, he untangles the bewildering, perplexing, and overlapping symptoms of these pathologies in ways that are helpful for both diagnosis and treatment. Forensic psychiatrists, like myself, who commonly confront these patients, this book is a goldmine of useful information.
Jessica Anne Clarke, M.D., Ph.D.
Forensic Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Oregon Health & Sciences University
Patients Who Deceive gives great information about patients who feign, malinger and deceive professionals, but at the same time, it is as entertaining as a “true crime" novel. I strongly recommend this book to mental health professionals and to general readers with an interest in the hinterlands of human behavior.
Eric G. Mart, Ph.D., ABPP (Forensic)
Forensic Psychologist
The case examples in this book are like a medical detective story featuring a complex set of facts that eventually reveal the truth. Here we find humanity on display: con artists, deluded people, the honestly lost, and the medical failures. Like all good stories—and life—some end well and other not so much. Patients Who Deceive is an interesting combination of skepticism and science at work.
Lee Moller, Software Engineer
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateFebruary 14, 2022
- File size16709 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B09SKMW52R
- Publisher : Stockdell Manor Books; 2nd edition (February 14, 2022)
- Publication date : February 14, 2022
- Language : English
- File size : 16709 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 193 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,963,702 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #110 in Health Risk Assessment (Kindle Store)
- #351 in Forensic Psychology
- #367 in Health Risk Assessment (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Loren Pankratz, Ph.D., was formerly a psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health Sciences University. He specialized in the assessment and management of unusual medical and psychiatric syndromes, especially those related to deception in the medical setting. After retirement, he maintained a forensic practice for several years. He has written and lectured on a wide variety of topics such as dancing manias, spiritualism, Syndromes of the imagination, Greek oracles, ghosts, plagues and the Black Death, historical enigmas, the history of Baron Munchausen, walking on fire, mesmerism, moral panics, con-games, self-deception, faith healing, self-surgery, miracles, ethical blunders, quackery, and renaissance science. He is the author of Patients Who Deceive and has a personal library covering the broad history of deception that provided the foundation for Mysteries and Secrets Revealed.
Patients Who Deceive is now revised and available for print and ebook.
Modern Swindles is now also available in print.
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Enjoyable read - I learned bunches!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022I was immediately struck with how similar this book was to Oliver Sacks "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". Many many case studies and in between each, the science. Each case study illustrates the different issues. As I'm not a psychologist I did have to stop and look up a few of the definitions, "somatic", "Korsakoff syndrome" and "Pooh Bah", this slowed me down a bit but it did help explain many concepts I wasn't familiar with. I am a little worried about my drawing of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex figure, I did forget several parts of the drawing but I think I don't suffer from cognitive disorganization. :-)
I made a lot of notes to myself as I read, which Pankratz explained a few pages later on, that helped a lot. Understanding the differences between Malingering, Factitious Disorder and Munchausen were nuanced but understandable because of the case studies he uses to explain.
The court cases Pankratz was involved in were fascinating. And the harm these people suffer, when accused. That poor woman with the bruising all over that people thought were self-inflicted. What a mess!
Reading this book felt like I had taken an undergraduate course covering an overview of the subject, I probably could hold my own discussing some of these topics ... at least for a bit. I really enjoy medical histories and am currently reading Mukherjee's book on the biography of cancer. Pankratz is equally interesting and at only 140 pages, very readable compared to Mukherjee's 450 page book.
Oh, another thing, I really enjoyed the illustrations on this book, all from Pankratz's own library! I have several of more of Pankratz's books to read, next up is the Oracle Revealed and I'm mostly finished with the Swindlers book which I will review soon.
So I recommend this book to anyone in the world of psychiatry, or people who work with veterans, or people who like to read about solved medical mysteries or just someone like enjoys knowing more about people.
My only complaint and it's a small one is that Pankratz uses the word "wanderer" in the preface, and I had an idea what that meant, but it was page 85 before he really explained what he meant by the word. I would have liked something nearer the beginning.
Totally enjoyed!
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read - I learned bunches!I was immediately struck with how similar this book was to Oliver Sacks "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat". Many many case studies and in between each, the science. Each case study illustrates the different issues. As I'm not a psychologist I did have to stop and look up a few of the definitions, "somatic", "Korsakoff syndrome" and "Pooh Bah", this slowed me down a bit but it did help explain many concepts I wasn't familiar with. I am a little worried about my drawing of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex figure, I did forget several parts of the drawing but I think I don't suffer from cognitive disorganization. :-)
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022
I made a lot of notes to myself as I read, which Pankratz explained a few pages later on, that helped a lot. Understanding the differences between Malingering, Factitious Disorder and Munchausen were nuanced but understandable because of the case studies he uses to explain.
The court cases Pankratz was involved in were fascinating. And the harm these people suffer, when accused. That poor woman with the bruising all over that people thought were self-inflicted. What a mess!
Reading this book felt like I had taken an undergraduate course covering an overview of the subject, I probably could hold my own discussing some of these topics ... at least for a bit. I really enjoy medical histories and am currently reading Mukherjee's book on the biography of cancer. Pankratz is equally interesting and at only 140 pages, very readable compared to Mukherjee's 450 page book.
Oh, another thing, I really enjoyed the illustrations on this book, all from Pankratz's own library! I have several of more of Pankratz's books to read, next up is the Oracle Revealed and I'm mostly finished with the Swindlers book which I will review soon.
So I recommend this book to anyone in the world of psychiatry, or people who work with veterans, or people who like to read about solved medical mysteries or just someone like enjoys knowing more about people.
My only complaint and it's a small one is that Pankratz uses the word "wanderer" in the preface, and I had an idea what that meant, but it was page 85 before he really explained what he meant by the word. I would have liked something nearer the beginning.
Totally enjoyed!
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2022For anyone interested in deception, lies, scams, and fraud, this book is for you. It will leave you with an entirely new and alarming perspective on the lengths individuals will go for secondary gain while deceiving health care professionals, and misusing our health care system and its valuable resources.
The author’s vast knowledge on this subject, his many years of clinical experience conducting interviews with such colorful individuals, along with hundreds of hours spent reviewing medical and insurance records to sort out deceit from truth will provide a fascinating and entertaining read whether you are a health care worker or not. His case examples will leave you thinking – “you can’t make this stuff up”!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2022please, make it known for yourself that this person states that as long as a child doesnt remember sexual or physical abuse (uder the age of 2-3) it is ok for them to be touched unappropriately by an adult. sickenning!!!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2022Patients Who Deceive is more than just a valuable reference for any health care professional that deals with patients. The fascinating cases presented also make for highly entertaining reading for the general reader and should not be overlooked. Highly recommended.
Byron E. Walker, pharmacist



