Malingering as a Maladaptive Pattern of Survival During the Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The article discusses the common emergency department (ED) challenge of malingering amid the pandemic in 2022. Topics covered include malingering's differentiation from factitious disorder, the diagnosis and management conflict between the two, and physicians' risk of reinforcing maladadaptive behavior when they empathize with patients' hard circumstances. Also noted are cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-induced malingering in the diagnosis, the context and the countertranference.