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“Selected truth”
Author(s) -
Spencer Douglas A.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of the british institute of mental handicap (apex)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 0261-9997
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3156.1983.tb00108.x
Subject(s) - goodwill , dishonesty , psychology , truth telling , flexibility (engineering) , social psychology , nursing , medicine , psychoanalysis , business , management , finance , economics
Professional staff in the National Health Service tend to assume without question that the patients they meet are genuine, honest, and well‐intentioned in the problems that they present. The same applies to the parents and relatives of patients, and to professional associates. The large majority are, so that any rare exceptions appear almost incredible. In this respect interviews with doctors and other health workers differ from those with lawyers and the police where the veracity and goodwill of the client is not automatically taken for granted. Downright deliberate dishonesty or premeditated manipulation of truth on the part of patients, their relatives, and people caring for them may be construed as reflecting some personality or psychiatric disorder. Milder forms and shades of “near truth”, “selected truth”, “graduated truth”, “white lies”, “exaggerated facts”, and data chosen for maximum impact, are more frequent and are probably not always suspected or detected. In all communications between people, degrees of licence and flexibility are found, and are institutionalised in different societies and cultures. For example, it has been good manners in Britain not to be too outspoken or blunt, and to use understatement. This is reminiscent of Voltaire's “Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts.” The term “graduated truth” is used in medical work when it is thought to be in the interests of the patient to deliberately and knowingly conceal or modify the truth. This paper considers some facets of services for mentally handicapped people where “graduated truth” is used in practice. These are: selectivity of data; differential behaviour; fabrication, fantasy and make‐believe; and patient management.