Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST)

Purpose: Screen for malingered psychiatric illness

Age: 18+ years

Time: 5-10 minutes

The Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) is a 25-item screening interview for adults that helps assess the likelihood that an individual is feigning psychiatric illness.

The seven M-FAST scales operationalise response styles and interview strategies that have been demonstrated to successfully identify individuals who are attempting to feign psychology:

• Reported vs Observed Symptoms (RO)
• Extreme Symptomatology (ES)
• Rare Combinations (RC)
• Unusual Hallucinations (UH)
• Unusual Symptom Course (USC)
• Negative Image (NI)
• Suggestibility (ES)

The flexibility of the structured interview format allows you to determine when, where, and to whom the M-FAST should be administered.

Interpretive information is provided at three distinct levels:

1. The total score provides an estimate of the likelihood that the respondent is malingering psychopathology
2. Scale scores provide information about the nature of the individual’s response styles that can help to explain how he or she is attempting to malinger mental illness
3. Several scales consistently differentiate malingerers from honest responders

When results indicate a probability of feigning, a more comprehensive assessment instrument (e.g., the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms - Second Edition - SIRS) can be administered to obtain more detailed and definitive information.