Factitious syndromes

Introduction: Factitious syndromes

Factitious disorders refer to any medical condition whereby a person feigns symptoms or otherwise fakes their illness in order to get some benefit. In factitious disorders, the person seeks attention or wants to be in the role of the patient. In cases where symptoms are feigned to get an economic benefit (e.g. insurance fraud, getting paid time off work, etc.), the disorder is more correctly called malingering. Somatoform disorders or psychosomatic symptoms are also different from factitious syndromes, because in these cases the person is not aware that their mind is causing the symptoms and is not conciously doing so with intent. Also different is hypochondriasis because the person does not want to be ill. One well-known name for factitious disorders is Munchhausen's syndrome, and particularly well-publicized is the very rare Munchhausen's syndrome by proxy where a mother intentionally makes her child sick in order to get attention.

Symptoms of Factitious syndromes

• Malingering
• Widespread pain

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Factitious syndromes:

• Mental Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Emotional Stress Tests

Wrongly Diagnosed with Factitious syndromes?

• Misdiagnosis of Factitious syndromes

Misdiagnosis and Factitious syndromes

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ADHD under-diagnosed in adults: Although the over-diagnoses of ADHD in children is a well-known controversy, the reverse side related to adults. Some adults can remain...read more »

Bipolar disorder misdiagosed as various conditions by primary physicians: Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder) often fails to be diagnosed correctly by primary care physicians. Many patients with bipolar seek help from their...read more »

Eating disorders under-diagnosed in men: The typical patient with an eating disorder is female. The result is that men with eating disorders often fail to be diagnosed or have a delayed diagnosis. See misdiagnosis of...read more »

Depression undiagnosed in teenagers: Serious bouts of depression can be undiagnosed in teenagers. The "normal" moodiness of teenagers can cause severe medical depression to be overlooked. See ...read more »

Undiagnosed anxiety disorders related to depression: Patients with depression (see symptoms of depression) may also have undiagnosed anxiety disorders (see symptoms of anxiety disorders). Failure to diagnose these anxiety disorders...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Factitious syndromes

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Statistics for Factitious syndromes

• Medical statistics for Factitious syndromes
• Death and Mortality statistics for Factitious syndromes
• Society statistics for Factitious syndromes

Types of Factitious syndromes

• Munchhausen syndrome
• Munchhausen syndrome by proxy
• Factitious insulin
• Factitious diabetic pill ingestion
• Thyrotoxicosis factitia

See full list of 6 Types of Factitious syndromes

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Definitions of Factitious syndromes:

A factitious disorder characterized by habitual presentation for hospital treatment of an apparent acute illness, the patient giving a plausible and dramatic history, all of which is false. - (Source - Diseases Database)