I recently undertook a Polygraph test in California and performed poorly.

For the 4 weeks priot to the test I was taking prescribed medication for depression and just happened to stop taking the medication 3 days before the test.

The examiner never asked me about whether taking medication was appropriate or not, but I read in articles that its not such a good combination and not the right timing.

Is there anyone who can advise me whether such medication could have impacted my ability in taking the test, or what should I have done.

thanks

The examiner never explained the implications of doing such a test whilst under medication.

So my question is whether having taken such medication impacts one's ability to take such a test satisfactorily.

Can anyone answer this please ?

Thanks for the insight.

I was on anti-depressant drugs for 4 weeks beforehand and stopped 3 days before the test. The Examiner asked me if I was presently taking any drugs to which I replied no. There was never any questions about if I had been on any drugs at all. Then when I started to look at information online I got a clearer picture that the test should not have gone ahead.

Should I go back to the examiner and tell him this now ? Or are there any other suggested corses of action. Maybe I ask the American Polygraph Organisation and file a complaint ?

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

If you underwent a CQT, then the drug would have had to have only had an effect on the relevant questions to be a problem.   

Why did you stop taking the drug?  Most people are on anti-depressants for a while once they start.  Were you depressed when during the exam?

Well, what does "performed poorly" mean?

Again, read Offe and Offe or even your venerated NAS report to see that's wrong.

What is the NAS report ?

First to Mr. Mascke:  Sir, you mislead "Syd123" by saying there are no studies on the effects of various drugs and the accuracy of polygraph and that there are no studies on the use of polygraph and medical conditions.  In fact there are numerous studies on each.  As early as 1965, Published in The National Institute of Police Science (Japan) "The effect of Tranquilizers on Polygraph Tests" reports a study in which participants were given both stimulants and anti-depressants/anti-anxiety drugs as well as a control group who were given a placebo.  No significant differences in classifications were noted except those on tranquilizers showed stronger reactions (quite the opposite that one might expect.  

There have been studies on beta blockers, on  valium and methylphenidate with a result of no effect on identification rates with much higher than chance identification (100% on truthful and 88% on guilty) by Iacono, Boisvenu &Fleming in 1984.

Studies have been accomplished on diagnosed sociopaths and confirmed non-sociopath subjects in a prison with excellent identification results.  

As early as 1962, Heckel, Brokaw, Salzberg and Wiggens tested non delusional psychoneurotic subjects against non-neurotic subjects with excellent results with 100% identification rate detection of "normals" and 87.5% on the neurotic group.

To "Jesper Paten": You sir have mislead Syd123 by telling him that the NAS study was a report following "extensive research into the accuracy of polygraph testing."  The truth sir is that the NAS group conducted absolutely no scientific research at all.  They merely evaluated a select sub-group of less that 100 previously conducted studies of polygraph and provided an evaluation of those selected studies.

To Syd123:  Some of the people on this forum tend to paint with a very wide brush and throw out often unsupported and sometimes totally inaccurate statements and opinions.  I hope that you will take what you read here and form an educated opinion on your own as education, unfortunately is often lacking here as emotions and virulent dribble tend to fill up all the available space.