Compulsive mimicry of illness symptoms is clinically termed factitious disorder or Munchausen syndrome
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Medical literature confirms that factitious disorder and Munchausen syndrome describe conditions characterized by the intentional feigning, production, or exaggeration of illness symptoms.
Abstract Objective: This paper aims to develop diagnostic criteria for factitious disorder (FD) and a heuristic for research by creating standards for delineating criterion groups. Method: Both FD and malingering are conceptualized within a rubric of illness-deception. The history of FD research was compared to the research history on malingering. Differences in the measurement of these constructs were described. The potential utility of performance validity tests (PVTs) and symptom validity tests (SVTs) in FD is discussed in light of successful applications in malingering. Methods for obtaining evidence for FD are delineated in a table of diagnostic criteria. Results: The comparison of FD and malingering research shows that the scientific measurement of malingering evolved rapidly with the introduction of forced-choice validity testing and cogent guidelines for the formation of criterion groups. Likewise, PVTs and SVTs hold promise as methods of measuring deceptive behavior in FD. The most salient differences between FD and malingering are understood to be matter of context/setting: malingering occurs in an external incentive context, while FD occurs in a medical/psychological context. Guidelines to assess FD are developed to fill the need for known-groups research. Conclusions: Evidence for FD, a form of illness-deception, can be obtained by using validity testing, which, together with careful clinical observation, allows for the development of probabilistic diagnostic criteria. Similar to the other form of illness-deception – malingering – these criteria can be used to form known groups for research.
Munchausen's syndrome.
Munchausen's syndrome is a chronic condition in which patients with factitious illness present with dramatic and sometimes self-inflicted signs and symptoms. Much investigation is needed to delineate the etiology and psychodynamics of this disorder. After other causes for the patient's condition have been ruled out and a firm diagnosis is made, cautious confrontation with long-term psychotherapy, if the patient is amenable, is thought to be the best approach.
Published in American family physician (1983)
Munchausen syndrome is a rare condition in which the patient repeatedly seeks medical care for factitious illnesses. With this self-inflicted disease, the patients characteristically travel from one hospital to another, feigning acute, usually spectacular illnesses. The patients willingly submit themselves to extensive as well as invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Munchausen syndrome is a psychiatric disorder that requires psychiatric treatment. Reconstructive surgical procedures may be required to correct the acquired deformities. The difficulty in Munchausen syndrome lies essentially in early recognition of the psychiatric syndrome. Two exceptional cases are reported, and diagnosis and treatment are presented in the light of the current literature.
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