FAKE IT TO MAKE IT: A FACTITIOUS DISORDER
I. There have been people that love attention, and have taken it a little too far and would invent or inflict illnesses on themselves.
A. A factitious disorder has been described as a disease in which a person convinces people and themselves that they have a disease, when in reality they do not.
1. Munchausen disorder, one type of factitious disorder, dates back to the 18th century when Baron Karl Friederick Hieronymus von Munchausen would tell entertaining but untrue tales of his past.
2. Some symptoms which have been known to appear in a patient with a factitious disorder are unbelievable, inconsistent, and have a long medical history in different hospitals or clinics.
3. Psychiatric help has been the main treatment offered, but sometimes when the level of the disorder has been harmful to the patient or others, they were hospitalized forcefully.
4. There’s been many symptoms that have are recognized as factitious, and though there are medications that have helped calm patients, the main way that they have help an individual has been with mental help.
II. Traces of factitious disorder were seen back in Galen’s time, a famous Roman physician from around 200 AD.
A. That is not however, where it was first named a disease, it was given the name Factitious by English physician named Gavin in a book he published in 1842.
1. Gavin wrote the first and most complete description of why people might do this to themselves.
a) He listed a total of eight reasons.
b) The first seven reasons were malingering because their reasons are to get something that is convenient to them out of it.
c) The eighth reason he named was that people do it to get compassion or attention.
2. There are two main...
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...y can hurt themselves and their families, they are forced into being hospitalized.
4. If the patient wants to be treated, then it has to come from them, or all the work would be done in vain because the person does not want to admit that they need help.
V. A factitious disorder is when a person says that they have a disease, when in reality they do not.
A. The two main types of factitious disorder are factitious disorder by proxy, which is when a person inflicts a disease on a person that they care for.
B. There is also Munchausen's syndrome, in which a person causes the symptoms on themselves.
C. They have physical symptoms like cuts, surgical scars and others.
D. They also have mental symptoms, where they have created a sickness that even they, themselves believe.
E. The only way to really help a person with a factitious disorder is by offering them mental help.
The early history of mental illness is bleak. The belief that anyone with a mental illness was possessed by a demon or the family was being given a spiritual was the reason behind the horrific treatment of those with mental illness. These individuals were placed into institutions that were unhygienic and typically were kept in dark, cave like rooms away from people in the outside world. The institutions were not only dark and gross; they also used inhumane forms of treatment on their patients. Kimberly Leupo, discusses some of the practices that were used, these included may types of electro shocks, submitting patients to ice bath, as well as many other horrific events (Leupo). Lobotomies, which are surgical procedures that cut and scrape different connections in the brain, were very common practice. They were thought to help cure mental illness, but often ended up with more damage than good.
Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from, and eventually replaced the older lunatic asylums. The treatment of inmates in early lunatic asylums was sometimes brutal and focused on containment and restraint with successive waves of reform, and the introduction of effective evidence-based treatments, modern psychiatric hospitals provide a primary emphasis on treatment, and attempt where possible to help patients control their own lives in the outside world, with the use of a combination of psychiatric drugs and
The traditional approach to the care of the mentally ill during the last 200 years was custodial, rather than therapeutic. This approach to “Psychiatric Care Delivery System” was introduced in India from Britain . Mental hospitals were established in isolated areas, often on the outskirts with the object of segregating the patient as troublesome and dangerous to their neighbors. The overriding concern was to protect the citizens without regard for appropriate care and cure of the ailing patients. As a consequence of this objective of the mental hospitals, the quality of care in such hospitals had been very poor. The inmates were subjected to indignity and humiliation for an indefinite period, and once admitted never recovered, or rehabilitated back in their family, but doomed to the inevitable end. The stigma of mental illness thus prevailed.
In the case of my aunt who I’ll call Bertha for the sake of anonymity she believes that she has multiple sclerosis (M.S.). She has claimed to have had it for as long as I can remember but shows no symptoms to the disease. One of the symptoms she claims to show is the intolerance for heat; this all changed when she desired to go Israel and her M.S. was miraculously cured. When my mom twisted her ankle my Aunt Bertha faked a seizure. We could tell it was fake because Aunt Bertha would stop seizing long enough to put more food in her mouth. She has gone to three licensed doctors who all said she needed to receive psychiatric help because she was showing no signs of M.S. My Aunt Bertha then found a all natural doctor who doesn’t use modern drugs or tests who confirmed her diagnosis of M.S. The doctor then proceeded to prescribe pills to my Aunt saying that they were the cure to M.S. that she had created herself.
illness could be seen on a sufferer maybe society would not “just get over it” greatly
There are many types of mental illnesses that can affect a person’s ability to function on a level fit for society. Those illnesses affect people differently and to different extremes. Diagnosable mental disorders are changes in thinking, moods, or behaviors that can cause a rise in the risk of death and may cause distress, pain, or disability. More severe mental illnesses include three major illnesses: Schizophrenia, major depression, and manic depression. Schizophrenia is a brain ailment that causes a loss in the ability to distinguish reality from fantasy. Many people who suffer from schizophrenia often hear voices that tell them to do different things. In some cases, the voices tell them to hurt themselves or other people. Other symptoms ma...
Mental illness has been around as long as people have been. However, the movement really started in the 19th century during industrialization. The Western countries saw an immense increase in the number and size of insane asylums, during what was known as “the great confinement” or the “asylum era” (Torrey, Stieber, Ezekiel, Wolfe, Sharfstein, Noble, Flynn Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill). Laws were starting to be made to pressure authorities to face the people who were deemed insane by family members and hospital administrators. Because of the overpopulation in the institutions, treatment became more impersonal and had a complex mix of mental and social-economic problems. During this time the term “psychiatry” was identified as the medical specialty for the people who had the job as asylum superintendents. These superintendents assumed managerial roles in asylums for people who were considered “alienated” from society; people with less serious conditions wer...
... is important to be under close supervision and even recommended to stay in a mental health center until symptoms are controlled.
However, many National foundations and programs (National Alliance of Mental Illness, American Medical Association, America Psychiatric Association, and National Institute of Mental Health) reject such claims, especially the ones about how mental illness is a myth. A famous critic is Dr. Szasz who wrote The Myth of Mental Illness, written in 1961. One of his basic arguments argued against the existence of mental illness and claimed that mental illness is a myth (Poulsen). Szasz rejected the traditionally accepted medical model for comprehending human struggles or difficulties and he was known for his high disapproval of the model (Poulsen). Furthermore, Szasz saw widely-accepted medical manuals about mental disorders as incorrectly suggesting the presence of mental disease in people (Poulsen). However, his central view of mental illness is a myth has been dismissed by the medical community for a long time (Poulsen). Since mental illness has been verified as real by the mental health community, my argument is still valid. On a popular website, Dr. Cornwall has a similar opinion to Dr. Szasz’s in that Dr. Cornwall doesn’t believe in mental illness. Dr. Cornwall calls mental illness “madness” in which he refers to this madness as temporary and not genetic (Cornwall). Additionally, Dr. Cornwall’ evidence of his argument is only his not-detailed personal experiences and those of his
After finishing this book I realized that this is somewhat true. This is a disease that has been kept a secret, and those that suffer from it keep it a hidden. It is embarrassing and those that suffer from this wish not to be identified. It has become a ritual to the person; they feel if they admit that they suffer from this that they will be labeled as “crazy'; when if fact they are not. One of our family members may have it or friends, we never know, and that’s the amazing thing because we might be able to help them but they are not willing to be open about it.
There are several subdivisions of the Factitious Disorder. They include Psychological Factitious Disorder (PsyFD), Physical Factitious Disorder (PhyFD), Combination Psychological and Physical Factitious Disorder (ComboFD), Munchausen Syndrome, and Ganser Syndrome. The person claiming they have an illness generally wanting empathy and will do anything to embellish symptoms of an illness or disease in several different ways.
Mental illness, today we are surround by a broad array of types of mental illnesses and new discoveries in this field every day. Up till the mid 1800’s there was no speak of personality disorder, in fact there was only two type of mental illness recognized. Those two illnesses as defined by Dr. Sam Vaknin (2010), “”delirium” or “manial”- were depression (melancholy), psychoses, and delusions.” It was later in 1835 when J. C. Pritchard the British Physician working at Bristol Infirmary Hospital published his work titled “Treatise on Insanity and Other Disorder of the Mind” this opened the door to the world of personality disorder. There were many story and changes to his theories and mental illness and it was then when Henry Maudsley in 1885 put theses theories to work and applied to a patient. This form of mental illness has since grown into the many different types of personality disorder that we know today. Like the evolution of the illness itself there has been a significant change in the way this illness is diagnosed and treated.
Long before the causes of disease were known and long before the processes of recovery were understood, and interesting thing was observed: if people recovered from a disease, rather than suc...
There was an article call “Mental Illness Is Not a Disease“ which argument between Martin Bobgan and Deidre Bobgan who are authors of PsychoHeresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity and co-directors of PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries, an organization which believes that many concepts of psychological counseling are contrary to biblical beliefs. They claimed many opposite views. Such as; “Mental illness is a myth” “Although a brain can be diseased, the mind cannot, they contend, because the mind is not a physical organ.” How could the mental illness become myth? Myth is something that people believes but it is not a true. So more than 40 million people who suffering from mental illness is liar? Moreover, if the mental illness is myth, how are they going to explain about that some mental illness is genetic disorder such as autism, schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness? I would rebut that argument with this article “Mental Illness Is a Disease” Which is article that” First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton” and Steven Hyman who are “director of the National Institute of Mental Health, assert that mental illnesses are real and treatable diseases” talks about that mental illness is real illness. The picture of Schizophrenia
There should be a holistic approach to the treatment diagnosis and management of the people with mental illness. Such an approach should put into consideration the families of the people with mental illnesses and help them understand the issue. Once they understand, it is easier for them to welcome and help the individuals instead of sending them to institutions. To achieve prompt treatment, the mental health facilities and personnel need to be accessible and operate within the recommended standards.