Mental Health: Factitious Disorders
Introduction
Factitious disorders are conditions in which a person acts as if he or she
has a physical or mental illness when he or she is not really sick. Factitious
disorder by proxy is when a person acts as if a person in their care has an
illness when they do not.
People with factitious disorders deliberately create or exaggerate symptoms
of an illness in several ways. They may lie about or fake symptoms, hurt
themselves to bring on symptoms, or alter tests (such as contaminating a urine
sample) to make it look like they or the person in their care are sick.
People with factitious disorders behave this way because of an inner need to
be seen as ill or injured, not to achieve a clear benefit, such as financial
gain. People with factitious disorders are even willing to undergo painful or
risky tests and operations in order to obtain the sympathy and special
attention given to people who are truly ill or have a loved one who is ill.
Factitious disorders are considered mental illnesses because they are
associated with severe emotional difficulties.
Many people with factitious disorders also suffer from other mental
conditions, particularly personality disorders. People with personality
disorders have long-standing patterns of thinking and acting that differ from
what society considers usual or normal. These people generally also have poor
coping skills and problems forming healthy relationships.
Factitious disorders are similar to another group of mental disorders called
somatoform disorders, which also involve the presence of symptoms that are not
due to actual physical or mental illnesses. The main difference between the two
groups of disorders is that people with somatoform disorders do not fake
symptoms or mislead others about their symptoms on purpose.
Next: Types of factitious disorders »
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