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.
Fact...
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