Munchausen Syndrome

[Welsh Wench]

I was doing some medical research for a school project and one thing led to another.  I wondered if anyone has ever heard of Munchausen Syndrome? And I don't mean the movie, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.  
 
It is closely associated with something called malingering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchausen_syndrome

[knarlyknot]

yes, I've heard of it, there is also Munchausen's by Proxy which is even worse, in this version a person makes someone else sick for the attention, typically mothers and their children.

[Zaubon]

yes, I've heard of it, there is also Munchausen's by Proxy which is even worse, in this version a person makes someone else sick for the attention, typically mothers and their children.

Sorry to say that this one seems to make the news every couple years. It's a scary world we live in.

[renren]

yes, I've heard of it, there is also Munchausen's by Proxy which is even worse, in this version a person makes someone else sick for the attention, typically mothers and their children.

Sorry to say that this one seems to make the news every couple years. It's a scary world we live in.

Indeed,very scary!

[Lord Finger]

I followed the "see also" link to Munchausen by Internet - people are weird

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchausen_by_Internet

[Welsh Wench]

It appears to be alot more prevalent than we think--

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2001/06/44245

It reminds me of that line in What About Bob?
'If I fake it, then I don't have it!'

[Anna Iram]

My thoughts are, even if you suspect a friend may have Munchausen, don't look upon it as "less" than a "true" illness.  Send compassion and love anyway. Illness in any form is a dark place to be and "Source" is an infinite supply of Light.

[Athena]

Agreed, sufferers of Munchausen should be looked on with compassion, but duping people isn't right. One can only cry wolf so many times before the fabrications catch up to them.

[Joyce "Delfinia DuSwallow" Howard]

Yea, thats really sad. There was a lady on the news here for crap she did to her little girl.Something has to be really wrong with you when you can make your own children sick for attention.

[Charlotte Rowan]

My thoughts are, even if you suspect a friend may have Munchausen, don't look upon it as "less" than a "true" illness.  Send compassion and love anyway. Illness in any form is a dark place to be and "Source" is an infinite supply of Light.

Well said. It is a viable, treatable mental health condition.

It is featured on House quite often.

[Marietta Graziella]

Wasn't this condition the premise of one of the dead people on The Sixth Sense?  She was poisoning the little girl with cleaner.

[Betty Munro]

I've seen it used as a plot line in many shows.  The Sixth Sense was just one of them.
We do indeed live in a sick world.

[groomporter]

There's a big to-do in Jerusalem currently about an Orthodox woman they say may be suffering from Munchausen's by Proxy and staving her son.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31943767/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

[Julianne]

My mother has Munchausen Syndrome.

Growing up watching her deliberately do things to herself that made her sick was heartbreaking to watch.  I often blamed myself in the child's way of thinking for her "illnesses".  She does enjoy taking her pills, it makes her happy.  

It's a clear and concise line between Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.  And then there is also the Hypochondriac and related nuerosis/psychosis in relation to "germ" phobias.
Except that all of these illnesses have one thing in common and that is Narcissistic Personality Disorder and sometimes Narcissistic Psychosis.

I can only wonder what my mother was lacking from her own childhood that drove her to this dark place.

It's not a tableside chat and it's not novel.
And please don't get me wrong, I loved my Mother very much growing up.  It's unfortunate that I have had to maintain no contact with her for more then 15 years now for my own and my family's good health.
As the touch of mental disease can affect many generations.

[Welsh Wench]

One reason I brought the subject up is a family member, while she may not be a Munchausen candidate, runs to the ER for every little thing. She also takes her kids to the hospital ER if they have the slightest fever.

She was in the healthcare industry and I sometimes wonder if she likes the drama and excitement of the hospitals.

And for that, I blame the TV shows.....
Hospitals are neither exciting or glamorous.


Munchausen by Internet seems to be a new phenomena. The trouble is, sometimes they list so many symptoms, it goes into overkill. And that is what makes it suspicious.
As the article says, they seem to find online forums where people don't know them and they can garner support and sympathy.

As Julianne said, you wonder what is lacking in their own lives that drives them to do this.