Many people would do anything to get out of a life-sentence to prison or even just to reduce their time. However, some people take it to higher levels as they fake having a mental illness.

One of the earliest records of using a mental illness is Charles J Guiteau, an office seeker in the 1880’s who shot President James. A Garfield in September of 1881. Guiteau was hanged after trying to plead insane.

Tali Walters, a Boston forensic psychologist, told Slate Online Magazine that most people present a Hollywood version of a mental illness.

“Most malingerers don’t read the psychological literature,” Walters said.

People who try to fake a mental illness tend to be caught by their exaggeration of the symptoms they read about.

Kenneth Bianchi is a classic case of hollywood acting.  A group of psychologists diagnosed Bianchi as having Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder, under hypnosis.

However, Martin Orne, an expert in hypnosis, was able to crack his facade.

Bianchi said that there was a voice, “Steve,” who committed unpleasant things. But, there were two things that were off from an accurate diagnosis.

The first thing that seemed odd was that Bianchi was said to have overemphasized his confusion of the evidence of what “Steve” had done. Also, while under hypnosis by Orne, he created another person, “Billy,” after Orne said that most people diagnosed tended to have two to three other personalities.

Ian Brady was able to fool many psychiatrists, yet admits to pretending the entire time.

Brady, a murderer of five children in the 1960’s, claims that he was inspired by Constantin Stanislavski, a Russian actor and director who focused on portraying emotions. The debate still goes on today as of whether he is faking or not.

However, not all use mental illnesses to get out of jail.

Most recently, around 80 New York Police Department (NYPD) and Fire Department New York (FDNY) collected $400 million in a social security scam with 20 others.

Many claimed to have the inability to leave home due to the tragedy of 9/11, but contradicted themselves by holding a firearm permit stating they were mentally sound, going against what the disability application says.