1. Malingering and making up illnesses are pretty much the same thing, since they both get you out of work or school when you aren’t really sick.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
2. Because doctors are experts in the field, they usually have little trouble spotting those who are faking disease or illness.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
3. People who fake illness and past history of surgeries generally do it on a short-term basis.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
4. People who fake illness to receive medical care are most often characterized as seeking attention and sympathy.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
5. Most sufferers of Munchausen syndrome are male.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
6. Factitious disorders are relatively easy to treat, since the sufferer knows he is faking it and knows a lot about medicine.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
7. People who deliberately fake disease or illness or injure themselves to get medical attention are very good at deception, but leave definite clues that will lead to the truth.
TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )
ANSWERS:
1. FALSE. On a superficial level, these two syndromes seem the same, but psychiatry does not consider malingering — faking illness for some secondary gain such as avoiding work or to gain some financial reward — to be a true psychological condition. The deliberate faking or creation of symptoms in order to get extra attention, and even obtain unnecessary medical treatment, is known as factitious disorder, and this is considered a true mental disorder.
2. FALSE. Despite their medical training and experience, doctors often are fooled by fakers because they have a natural tendency to believe what patients say about their health. Plus, those patients who are adept at faking illness also tend to be evasive about records and often fabricate stories about past conditions.
3. FALSE. Though statistics are hard to come by, it is believed that most people who fall into this category are long-term practitioners of deception, and are diagnosed as having Munchausen syndrome, named after an 18th-century German military officer who was known for embellishing his life’s stories. These people have been known to deliberately produce convincing physical symptoms by rubbing irritants on their skin to bring on a rash, ingesting substances to distort a lab result or even wearing a splint or using a cane when they don’t need one.
4. TRUE. The objective of most of those who suffer from this disorder is to receive hospitalization, medical care or even surgery. It is believed that most of these people have backgrounds that include childhood trauma or abuse, lack of parental attention or a feeling of lack of control. The attention brought by their illnesses will be extremely gratifying to these individuals, who often have personality disorders or are alienated from family and have a difficult time sustaining meaningful relationships.
5. TRUE. Most sufferers are indeed male — and many of them (and the occasional female sufferer as well) have backgrounds in the medical profession. One of the clues to a faker is that he or she will have textbook knowledge of various illnesses to present to the doctor who is examining him or her. A related syndrome, Munchausen by proxy, is a slightly different presentation of the disorder, perpetrated mainly by women who deliberately injure or sicken their children in order to gain sympathy through repeated doctor or hospital visits.
6. FALSE. Although the person knows he is faking the string of illnesses, it is often very difficult for a physician to break through to the truth and establish a trusting relationship with the patient in order to manage or seek improvement in the disorder through counseling. There is also some disagreement in the profession about whether certain medications are effective and appropriate in treating the condition.
7. TRUE. Such clues include keeping the doctor away from family members; incomplete or false past medical histories; normal behavior or lack of symptoms when they are not in the presence of a doctor; worsening of symptoms after negative test results; and lack of improvement when sent home without treatment or with just a prescription.
If you answered at least five of the seven questions correctly, you know the different between a simple malingerer and a person with a true medical condition.
