Opinion ID: 1864782
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Dr. Bill Arbes, Ph.D.

Text: One of the referrals made by Dr. Opheim was to Dr. Bill Arbes. Dr. Arbes is a clinical psychologist and associate professor with the Department of Psychiatry for the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. In making the referral, Dr. Opheim stated in his notes of 9/28/90 that, John never has seemed to me to be a hysterical type of personality but in view of our inability to explain his difficulties, I think this evaluation needs to be done. In other words, the purpose of this referral was to determine if there was a psychological explanation for Foltz' problems. Apparently, Foltz met with Dr. Arbes three or four times. Dr. Arbes wrote two letters following the visits, and these letters were accepted as exhibits at the Department hearing by stipulation of counsel. Dr. Arbes ordered administration of the MMPI to Foltz, did a complete personal/social history, and administered several other mental exams such as proverb testing. In part, Dr. Arbes stated: There certainly are no signs on the MMPI nor on the personal/social history taking, nor on mental status exam to suggest that this man has any symptoms consistent with a psychophysiological or somatic disorder.... There appears to be no secondary gain present to his presenting physical symptoms, and overall he is basically not the type of person who can deal with unstructured time.... Mr. Foltz is not resisting to return to work, but quite the contrary, his desire is to return to work in some situation. (Emphasis added.) Thus, Dr. Arbes' statements do not indicate a belief that Foltz is either faking or imagining his vision problems.