Problem
Münchausen syndrome
Other Names:
Hospital addictionIllness addicts
Compulsion to have medical attention
Feigned disorders
Pretended illness
Elaboration of symptoms
Nature:
The affected person seeks unnecessary medical attention -- often including repeated surgery. Patients usually travel widely and tell false stories. They may use trickery to produce symptomatic indications of illness or conditions. Part of the attraction for medical treatment is the care and attention they receive. Another is that being ill carries other tangible gains, such as sick leave from work.
Incidence:
One woman in the UK had national health medical treatment estimated at £500,000, including 42 unnecessary operations on her stomach. A man convinced 23 hospitals that he had a kidney stone by putting a pebble under his back when he went for X-rays.
Broader Problems:
AddictionSelf disordersPersonality disordersLyingSyndromes of disease Narrower Problems:
Münchausen by proxy syndrome References:
Feldman, Marc D and Ford, Charles V: Patient or Pretender: inside the strange world of factious disorders Subject(s):
Consciousness → Consciousness Health Care → Hospitals
Health Care → Psychiatry
Medicine → Diagnosis
Medicine → Medicine
Medicine → Pathology
Societal Problems → Addiction, drug abuse
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
E: Emanations of other problems Date of last update
21.04.2022 – 08:54 CEST