Feigned insanity in nineteenth-century America: Tactics, trials, and truth

Jeffrey L. Geller, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Jonathon Erlen, University of Pittsburgh
Neil S. Kaye, University of Massachusetts Medical School
William H. Fisher, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Abstract

Feigned insanity in nineteenth-century America is appraised through a review of the medical and legal literature. The authors focus on the explanations for feigning, procedures used in uncovering feigning, and the role of feigning in the courtroom. This discussion of feigned insanity demonstrates the remarkable consistency of approach to this form of malingering over the past 200 years.