Triparesis: an unusual presentation of factitious disorder.

Factitious disorder (FD) has diverse presentations but neurological presentation is unusual. In this report, we discuss a case of FD who presented with triparesis, that is, weakness of both lower limbs and right upper limb. Diagnosis of FD was made after detailed clinical evaluation, review of past medical records that revealed extensive evaluation to rule out physical illness, and inability to find any associated stressful event or material gain associated with illness. Management was largely supportive and was based on psychotherapy. Identification of FD depends on a high index of suspicion by the physician and the presence of atypical and medically unexplainable signs/symptoms.

Prevalence of factitious disorder with psychological symptoms in hospitalized patients.

Factitious disorder is characterized by the invention, production or falsification of physical and psychological symptoms that feign a physical or mental illness. Although it is not rare to find symptoms that seem to be factitious among psychiatric patients (both outpatients and inpatients), we have never been able to confirm this suspicion. Once we had established the suspicion criteria for factitious disorder with psychological symptoms, we discovered that 8% of the patients admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit had factitious symptoms. The patients were mostly women with a mean age of 36.2 years. The most frequent symptoms were non-consistent response to treatment, worsening of the symptoms when faced with the perspective of a discharge plan, disappearance of the symptoms just after being admitted and intense relationship with other patients or staff during the hospitalization. Although it is not possible to determine the method used in the factitious production of the psychological systems accurately, close observation of the patients helps to infer that 75% of the patients exaggerate the psychological symptoms currently present or those occurring in the past and thus experienced at some time during their lifespan. Invention of psychological symptoms never felt before by the patient and deliberate intervention in the psychiatric treatment to modify the evolution of the illness were less frequent. A total of 25% of the patients with suspicion criteria for factitious disorder with psychological symptoms also had physical symptoms considered to be factitious during the hospitalization and 62% of patients with factitious symptoms developed intense relationships with other patients.

Factitious disorder on an inpatient psychiatry ward.

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.

Factitious disorders and pathological self-harm in a hospital population: an interdisciplinary challenge.

Factitious disorder, Munchausen's Syndrome, and deliberate self-harm have recently been conceptualized as different facets of self-destructive behavior. A descriptive typological classification has been presented by Willenberg et al., but has not yet been tested with a clinical sample. The instrument distinguishes between direct self-harm (e.g., self-inflicted wounds), self-induced disease (e.g., factitious fever), and indirect self-harm delegated to medical staff (e.g., repeated operations occasioned by feigned symptoms). All patients referred to the psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic liaison-consultation service or to the outpatients' department within 14 months (n = 995) and all patients discharged from in-patient psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic treatment within 2 months (n = 62) were assessed. Expert instruction and supervision were provided for the diagnosticians. The assessment was continued for a subsequent year, without special supervision (n = 1,058). Self-destructive behaviors were diagnosed in 7.5% of the cases in the first sample, with certainty (59.5%) or on suspicion (40.5%). In the subsequent sample without supervision, the rate reduced to 3.6%. Referrals had come from almost all clinical departments, including the emergency unit (26%), surgery, internal intensive care, endocrinology (9.5% each), neurology, infectiology, nephrology (7.1% each), dermatology, gastro-enterology, cardiology (4.8% each) and surgical intensive care (2.4%). The occurrence of pathological self-destructive phenomena is underrated when using only the ICD-criteria. The rate is influenced by diagnostic attention.

Head injury, dissociation and the Ganser syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical characteristics and psychiatric correlates of the Ganser syndrome following mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHOD: A retrospective chart review of patients with mild TBI assessed in a tertiary care outpatient clinic. RESULTS: Of 513 patients reviewed in a 1 year period, four subjects with a diagnosis of Ganser syndrome, with the hallmark syndrome of approximate answers ('vorbeigehen') were identified. In three of these patients, symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and/or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were found. Only one patient was pursuing litigation. CONCLUSIONS: While no epidemiologic conclusions can be drawn from the data, clinicians should, nevertheless, be alert to the possibility of patients presenting with Ganser syndrome following TBI. The findings are discussed in the light of data linking the syndrome to dissociative and post-traumatic stress related disorders.

Factitious deafblindness: an imperceptible variant of factitious disorder.

We describe two women who, over a period of years, feigned the loss of both vision and hearing. Their principal motive appeared to be pursuit of the sick role, though each acquired disability payments as well. A face-saving intervention sharply reduced the alleged hearing deficits in one case; the other patient precipitously left treatment. A broad range of permutations of factitious disorder has been reported, but these appear to be the first published cases of factitious deafblindness.

Fictitious twins, factitious illness.

Five patients who sought hospitalization with factitious illnesses also feigned or fantasied loss of a twin. This unusual presentation suggests the possibility that fantasied twin loss may have dynamic implications. The patients are described and discussed in relation to factitious illness, factitious bereavement, and twin fantasies. Their fictional twin bereavement appeared aimed, in part, at stabilizing a fragile sense of self and gaining sympathetic support from others. This presentation should alert one to investigate the story, inviting the person's participation in gaining corroborating information, and--should the story prove false--to support the individual in less victimizing adaptations.

Strategic-behavioral intervention in the treatment of chronic nonorganic motor disorders.

Chronic nonorganic motor disorders pose particular difficulties because of a combination of diagnostic confusion and intractability to psychotherapeutic or behavioral interventions. Three cases are presented, all of whom failed a rehabilitation approach that emphasized basic behavioral principles of shaping and reinforcement. Despite this initial failure, all three patients showed dramatic and rapid improvement after implementation of an intervention combing elements of strategic and behavior therapy. The strategic element consisted of placing patients in a double bind by telling them full recovery constituted proof of an organic etiology and failure to recovery constituted conclusive evidence of a nonorganic or psychiatric etiology. These cases also illustrate the difficulty in distinguishing between conversion and factitious disorders.