ABSTRACT
This case report provides an account by a patient (with permission) of chronic factitious disorder and the factors that led to recovery. Such accounts are extremely rare in the literature. This account also throws into sharp focus current controversies in the classification of factitious disorders.
Subject(s)
Borderline Personality Disorder/rehabilitation , Munchausen Syndrome/rehabilitation , Substance-Related Disorders/rehabilitation , Adult , Borderline Personality Disorder/complications , Chronic Disease , Humans , Male , Munchausen Syndrome/complications , Substance-Related Disorders/complications , Treatment Outcome , Young AdultABSTRACT
The authors present 6 cases of factitious disorder seen on a general adult inpatient psychiatry unit of a university hospital. They review the clinical features of this disorder and suggest that factitious disorder is much more prevalent among psychiatric inpatients than is commonly recognized. Strategies to assist in the diagnosis and management this disorder are detailed.
Subject(s)
Factitious Disorders/epidemiology , Factitious Disorders/psychology , Psychiatric Department, Hospital , Adult , Factitious Disorders/rehabilitation , Female , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Munchausen Syndrome/epidemiology , Munchausen Syndrome/psychology , Munchausen Syndrome/rehabilitation , Prevalence , Somatoform Disorders/epidemiology , Somatoform Disorders/psychology , Somatoform Disorders/rehabilitationABSTRACT
This article presents the treatment period for a 16-year-old girl with Munchausen's syndrome. She was initially referred to the hospital with emphysema of the face, which turned out to be due to self-injection of air. She had an eight-month hospitalization period for the diagnosis of her condition. After the diagnosis was established she was treated by our psychiatric team and followed for 21 months successfully without recurrence.
