I'll ask around. Usually, with most tests, you can find them on sale. I didn't see the Rey 15 on sale on a google search.
I do know that some of the tests I've employed that are actually common such as the Atypical Presentation Scale, I couldn't find available on an online search. My PD gave me a copy.
An online search only yielded articles about the test but not the test itself or someone selling it.
1. It's pretty hard to constantly fake a thought process disorder. I.e. it's hard to fake being consistently loose, Flight of ideas, etc.
Yes because we don't think in that manner. Also to act in a manner where one does not have an organized thought process expends a lot of effort. IF someone is faking it, you can usually tell so long as staff members are monitoring the person 24/7. That will be happening if it's an inpatient unit and staff members are doing their jobs. Usually during the shift report, I tell staff members that I want all eyes on the suspected malingerer. Almost always, a malingerer trying to present with a nonorganized thought process will at some point drop the act because it takes too much effort to be that way all the time.
The problem here is that it can take at least a day or two before that happens. Then you have the billing issue. How can you bill if the person is not mentally ill? Some places will, from what I understand, give a problem with this, even though the treatment team spent time and resources to detect the malingering. I'm not advocating that malingerers be falsely diagnosed for billing purposes. I'm simply stating this is a problem and it does lead to false diagnosis plenty of times.
At least for me, I don't have the above problem because when patients are ordered to a forensic unit by the court, the state ends up paying for everything and they are expecting me to find out if the person is malingering or not. About 1/3 of patients in a forensic setting are expected to malinger so, on average, I should be carrying about 7 malingerers at a time. Remember, malingering is not merely the fabrication but also the exaggeration of a mental illness. I've seen plenty of patients clear up with treatment but pretend to remain ill to avoid facing the music in court.
2. Malingerers tend to favor command hallucinations and visual hallucinations
Malingerers want to be noticed, and usually do things that are in your face. After all, they want to make sure they've convinced you. E.g. there's a guy on my unit, he got a marker and drew various symbols on his face. Malingerers tend to fake symptoms seen in the media and do not know how to correctly portray mental illness. The in-your-face stuff tends to be positive symptoms because (+) symptoms are in-your-face. They hardly show negative symptoms.
3. They tend to be easily suggestible to add bizarre elements to their story if they think that's what you want to hear. The following are some questions he asked:
A few studies have catalogued the type of symptoms exhibited by psychotic patients. Some of those studies have utilized thousands of participants. Resnick, in his manual, mentioned "atypical" symptoms. The more atypical symptoms, the more likely the person is malingering.
E.g. we all know that paranoia, thought broadcasting, thought blocking, etc are symptoms we'd expect to see. Drawing on one's face is not one, nor is claiming there is a "robot religion" only in the presence of staff members, but when the person is on the unit there is no behavior that can be connected with it. Little green men is another atypical symptom (though it can be seen in delirium).
Some "fun" with malingerers: don't give them anything they want so long as you can justify it. E.g. so long as the person is overweight---AT ALL, put them on a weight loss diet. They can't smoke (if your state allows it), after all, they're supposed to be in a hospital to get better right? Never given Ativan or any other benzo. You're only going to stimulate their nucleus accumbens and reinforce the desire to be in the hospital. If they get out of line and medication is warranted, give out Vistaril or Benadryl for anxiety among other things that may be needed. Be wary of giving out Seroquel because it has a street value and I've noticed several malinger for it. In fact the phenomenon has now been published several times and meets the peer-reviewed status. Always have things the malingerer could do such as play cards or other games. Coherent playing gives enough evidence to suggest an organized thought process, memory and concentration.
You could offer medications not geared toward improving the mental illness (e.g. PRN Ambien), and see if the person starts mentioning how the voices are going away with it.
If I suspect someone of malingering, I often times do not give any medications to see the person in their baseline state. If you medicate, it can muddle the picture if the person is malingering or not because any organized behavior seen by the person could possibly be attributed to medication treatment.