Münchausen syndrome

Munchausen syndrome, also referred to as factitious disorder, is a mental condition in which sufferers cause or pretend to have physical or psychological symptoms that are not actually occurring. Munchausen syndrome is considered to be a mental illness because it is associated with severe emotional difficulties that are present with the illness. Due to the fact that there are no reliable statistics regarding the number of people in the United States who suffer from Munchausen syndrome, it is considered

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a mental illness and form of child abuse that claims the lives of 9% of its victims (Heffner, 2004). It is defined as, “a psychological disorder in which a parent, typically a mother, harms her child (as by poisoning), falsifies the child 's medical history, or tampers with the child 's medical specimens in order to create a situation that requires or seems to require medical attention” (Merriam-Webster, 1977). In most cases, the mother is the abuser and plagues the