The fake bad scale in atypical and severe closed head injury litigants

The correlational and diagnostic properties of Lees‐Haley's MMPI‐2 Fake Bad Scale (FBS) were examined in litigating atypical minor, litigating moderate–severe, and non‐litigating moderate–severe head injury samples. Overall, the FBS was sensitive to both litigation status and nonconforming versus conforming symptom courses. The FBS appeared superior to the MMPI‐2 F and F‐K scales in differentiating atypical from real brain‐injury outcomes. High FBS scorers also had higher scores on somatic complaining (Hs, Hy) and to a lesser degree with psychotic complaints (F, Pa, Sc). FBS showed significant associations with various neuropsychological symptom validity measures. FBS appears to capture a hybrid of infrequent symptom reporting styles with an emphasis on unauthentic physical complaints. However, FBS also correlated with documented abnormal neurological signs within a litigating moderate–severe brain‐injury group. Its use as a symptom infrequency measure may have to be modified in more severe injury litigants, as some FBS items may reflect true long‐term outcome in severe cerebral dysfunction. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 58: 1591–1600, 2002.