page_title: Loren Pankratz
section_title: Publications
hierarchical_section_title: Loren Pankratz / Publications
caption_attribution_description: English: The faculty of 2012's Skeptic's Toolbox are presented with a "Honorary In The Trenches Awards". Ray Hyman, Lindsay Beyerstein, James Alcock, Harriet Hall and Loren Pankratz
context_page_description: Loren Pankratz is a consultation psychologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and professor in the department of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University.
  Following his retirement in 1995, he maintained a forensic practice until 2012. He testified nationally on cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy, often defending mothers accused of harming their children.
  He has written and lectured on a wide variety of unusual topics such as dancing manias, spiritualism, Greek oracles, ghosts, plagues, historical enigmas, mesmerism, moral panics, con-games, self-deception, faith healing, self-surgery, miracles, ethical blunders, quackery, and renaissance science. He has also published magic history, magic tricks, and mentalism effects in magazines. Pankratz, along with Ray Hyman and Jerry Andrus, was a founding faculty member of the Skeptic's Toolbox in Eugene, Oregon. Pankratz is also a Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
context_section_description: Pankratz published Patients Who Deceive in 1998 which is part of the Charles Thomas Behavioral Science and Law series. Reviewer Phillip Resnick wrote that Pankratz clearly explains the difference between a malingerer (someone who wants to appear sick) and a person with factitious disorder who wants to be sick (even when no one is watching). Resnick says the book showcases "many dramatic examples of creating illusions of illness."  Pankratz and psychiatrist Landy Sparr described factitious posttraumatic stress disorder in 1983, saying the stories of trauma always require external verification.
  Pankratz described forced-choice testing as a strategy for the assessment of malingering related to any sensory deficit.  He later expanded forced-choice testing to assess malingering on neuropsychological assessment.
  In the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Pankratz published an article on the assessment and treatment of "geezers".  The Los Angeles Times review said geezers, "are never more misunderstood than when, laid low by medical problems they can't shake themselves, they are forced to swallow their pride and go to the doctor."  The Times quoted Pankratz's article, "So all the medical profession can do is wait for the geezer to appear, on his own time and his own terms. If eccentric older men can be approached with interest, understanding and respect, half the battle is won—and the war may be avoided."
caption: Each of the faculty of 2012's Skeptic's Toolbox are presented by Carl and Ben Baumgartner, with an honorary In The Trenches award. Ray Hyman, Lindsay Beyerstein, James Alcock, Harriet Hall and Loren Pankratz[16]
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-Z1080", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.00", "Image DateTime": "2012:08:12 09:49:28", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "290", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 16, 133, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3064", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7295", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:08:11 21:09:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:08:11 21:09:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "27040/9747", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "79/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3461", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2478", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3648", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2736", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2916", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "bc42b989f795bcbde726026684e93c57"}