"Polygraph Post-Traumatic Stress?"  Well, as a polygrapher I can tell you that when I have to do two or even three polygraphs in the same day, it sure is stressful.   

Well, as an "anonymous" poster, I could be anywhere at anytime. Funny how a new user like yourself seems to know of me right away, as evidenced by your quick reply using my acronym, LBCB.  Anyway, if you're going to talk about "Polygraph Post-Traumatic Stress," you should get it from both sides, because sometimes it can be stressful being a polygrapher.  

Thanks. I thought you'd never ask.

Well, when you conduct a polygraph, it can be a very stressful ordeal. Take a criminal exam for example. If that alleged criminal fails the exam, you could be in that interrogation for hours while he/she keeps lying and lying and lying. Meanwhile, your stomach starts growling. It's a contest of wills, so you can't just get up and say, "Why don't we take a little break and walk to the corner coffee shop for coffee and donuts." Oh, noooooo, you have to sit there face-to-face with a liar and keep at him/her until he/she confesses, asks for a lawyer, or refuses to go on. Quite stressful, indeed.

Think about how it would be to conduct several screening exams in the same day. Talk about BORING! You get tired of hearing yourself drone on and on and on . . . 

And then sometimes when you go home at night and crawl into bed, you don't count sheep. You count squiggly lines that go up and down, up and down . . . it's enough to drive anyone insane.

And then sometimes you have to turn right around and do the whole thing all over the next day. That can be quite traumatic. 

Thanks for your time.  I'm here until Thursday. 

sumorg wrote on Jan 18^th, 2007 at 12:05am:


Au contrare! There is no real time limit. While everyone eventually has a limit, if that alleged criminal (notice that I didn't say alleged liar) keeps going, so do you as the polygrapher/interrogator. Any interrogator who knows in his or her heart that someone is lying will be relentless. No, you don't conduct another polygraph exam, but an interrogation is where the real work begins.

You don't "know" that he or she is lying because as good as it is in the hands of a good polygrapher, the polygraph is not perfect. But as a good polygrapher, when the data collection is over you should have something between a preponderance of the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt. So, you keep going. And if you're any good as an interrogator, most people who fail a polygraph will confirm your data for you.