Galen on faking pain

Abstract

Faking pain and other symptoms is an emerging and controversial topic in medical literature. It was already addressed by Galen in the short writing Quomodo morbum simulantes sint deprehendendi, the major excerpt of the Commentary on Hippocrates’ Epidemics book II, lost in the original Greek but surviving in Arabic translation. Using case histories, Galen analyzes malingering and illness deception building a theory which is still worthy of attention. This paper aims at reconsidering Galen’s text, highlighting its most important and significant features, in order to better understand the ancient view on simulation and put it into a medico-historical context.