The Spectrum of Factitious Disorders

Malingering and Factitious Disorders

Factitious Disorders and Malingering

Patients may present to the emergency department with symptoms that are simulated or intentionally produced. The reasons that cause this behavior define two distinct varieties: factitious disorders and malingering. Factitious disorders are characterized by symptoms or signs that are intentionally produced or feigned by the patient in the absence of apparent external incentives. Factitious disor...

Factitious disorders in civil litigation: twenty cases illustrating the spectrum of abnormal illness-affirming behavior.

Physical symptoms are commonly alleged in civil litigation. In some instances these symptoms are originally produced by psychological factors and antedate the alleged injury being claimed as a tort. These cases reflect abnormal illness-affirming behavior. Factitious physical disorders represent a special category of these individuals because they produce their signs and symptoms consciously. Th...

Management of factitious disorders: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND The literature regarding the management of factitious disorder (FD) is diverse and generally of case reports or case series. To date there has been no systematic review of the effectiveness of management techniques. METHODS Systematic review of all evidence reporting the management and subsequent outcome in FD. Data were extracted and outcomes were assessed using an adaptation of t...

Factitious disorders presenting as acute emergencies.

responses to, or refractoriness to, standard therapy. Also, doctors are unlikely to diagnose factitious illness until all other diagnostic possibilities have been exhausted. It is highly likely that the true incidence of factitious illness is underestimated,1 partly as doctors are generally unwilling victims of deception. The term Munchausen syndrome was applied by Dr Richard Asher to a group o...