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FACTITIOUS DISORDER

Men's Health, Mental Health, Uncategorized, Women's Health / By

FACTITIOUS DISORDER

Factitious disorder is a mental disorder in which a person will fake or induce physical or mental health problems by deliberately producing, exaggerating, or feigning symptoms, usually to gain sympathy and attention.

  • People with this condition will go to great lengths such as pretending to be sick, tampering with medical tests (such as contaminating a urine sample), or causing harm to themselves to attain this attention from others.
  • They continue with their deception, even without receiving any external or visible benefit.
  • When a person or caregiver falsely present someone under their care, such as children, elderly adults, a disabled person or pets as being injured, sick or impaired, this is known as factitious disorder by proxy or factitious disorder imposed on another. It is a serious form of abuse.
  • Factitious disorder by proxy most often occurs in mothers who intentionally harm their children in order to receive attention. Although, it can also occur in fathers.
  • Factitious disorder can be challenging to identify and hard to treat because people with the condition may not recognize themselves as having a problem and are not often aware of what is responsible for their behavior.
  • In a 2016 review published in General Hospital Psychiatry, researchers discovered that about two-thirds of people with factitious disorder were female, with an average year of 34 years. About 42% of these patients suffered from depression, and 60% preferred self-inducing injury to fake or lying about an illness.

CAUSES

The exact cause of the condition is not known. However, a combination of psychological factors and stressful life experiences may be responsible for the disorder.

Several factors that may increase the risk of developing the condition include:

  • A history of neglect or abandonment as a child
  • Childhood trauma such as emotional, sexual, or physical abuse
  • Depression
  • Personality disorder
  • Social isolation
  • Family dysfunction
  • A serious illness during childhood
  • Professional experience in health care such as training in nursing, health aid worker etc.
  • Loss of a loved one through death, or illness
  • A history of close contact with someone with a severe or chronic illness.

SYMPTOMS

  • Confusing and complicated medical history
  • Extensive knowledge of medical/ hospital terms and diseases
  • Presence of many surgical scars
  • Frequent stays in the hospital
  • Reluctance to allow doctors to talk to family or friends or other health care professionals
  • Having few visitors when hospitalized
  • Eagerness to have risky medical tests, surgery or other procedures
  • The appearance of additional symptoms following a negative result or when about to be discharged
  • Vague or inconsistent symptoms
  • Having conditions that get worse for no apparent reason
  • History of seeking treatment at different hospitals, clinic, doctors, which may include using a fake name.
  • Preventing healing of an injury
  • Absence of symptoms when the patient is not observed

DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Diagnosing the condition is often very difficult. When making a diagnosis, the doctor may need to rule out physical reasons for symptoms and medical conditions reported by the affected individual.

It should be noted that people who feign illness in themselves or others for the purpose of receiving an external reward (gift, money, missing work) do not have factitious disorder. In order to receive a diagnosis, the patient must deceive despite the lack of an external reward.

In order to receive a diagnosis, the individual must have:

  • A confusing medical history
  • An illness that do not follow the usual course
  • Lack of healing for no obvious reason, despite appropriate treatment
  • Inconsistent or contradictory symptoms or lab results
  • Reluctance to allow doctors from getting information from previous medical records, family members, or other health care practitioners
  • Been caught in the act of causing injury or lying

To help with diagnosis, the doctor may need to:

  • Conduct a detailed interview
  • Require past medical records
  • Work with other family members for more information
  • Use the criteria for the disorder in the DSM-5, published by the American Psychiatric Association

TREATMENT

Treatment options focus on managing the condition and may include:

  • Psychotherapy or counseling
  • Family therapy to help the family learn how to support affected individual without reinforcing their behavior
  • Medication to treat depression
  • Psychiatric hospitalization

In the case of factitious disorder by proxy, the major goal is to ensure the safety and protection of potential victims. With this done, the next step is to work out any underlying psychological issues that may be causing the person’s behavior.