FALSE STATEMENTS AND THE DIFFERENTIAL-DIAGNOSIS OF ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

Objective: Because child psychiatrists do not have a consistent way to classify the untruthful child and because there are no generally acce pted definitions of the many ways in which false statements occur in a llegations of abuse, the objective of this paper is to classify and de fine the various ways in which false statements occur in allegations o f abuse. Method: The author reviewed 40 articles, chapters, and books that contained examples of false statements made by children or caregi vers in the context of an abuse allegation. Results: This paper clarif ies the concepts of indoctrination, suggestion, fantasy, delusion, mis interpretation, miscommunication, innocent lying, deliberate lying, co nfabulation, pseudologia phantastica, overstimulation, group contagion , and perpetrator substitution. Conclusion: The correct classification of abuse allegations is important in both clinical and forensic child psychiatry. The definitions in this paper, which are based on clinica l experience, should be studied through systematic research.