Robert L. Mapou

Neuropsychological findings in silicone breast-implant complainants: Brain damage, somatization, or compensation neuroses?

Abstract Seven consecutive cases of women claiming a variety of ailments and disabilities which they related to their breast implants are presented. None of the patients had any objective medical findings documenting these impairments. Four of the 7 patients performed poorly on neuropsychological tests. All 4 of these were felt to be motivated to perform poorly on forced choice measures of cooperation. The remaining 3 patients performed within normal limits on the neuropsychological tests. All 7 patients scored above critical limits on at least two MMPI-2 clinical scales. One patient was depressed and the rest presented as overly hypochondriacal and hysterical. These data indicate that the rates of psychiatric disorder, symptom magnification, somatization, and/or malingering may be quite high in breast-implant complainants.