What is Factitious Disorder?

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People with Factitious Disorder create and feign illnesses in themselves or in someone who is in their care, such as a child. They do this not to receive disability payments or to get out of work. It’s more for the attention and sympathy that comes with being sick. These people go from hospital to hospital, from doctor to doctor getting endless, unnecessary examinations, treatments, and surgeries.

Because the risk of missing a real medical illness is so high, symptoms usually go on for a long time before a doctor confronts an individual about the true nature of their disorder. These people often give lengthy, complicated medical histories and may have multiple scars from surgeries. Despite these long histories, people may make it hard for doctors to get copies of their previous medical records to avoid revealing their secret. Also, doctors may notice these stories may change over time or be remarkably unusual. People with this disorder do their research, though, so their descriptions of medical problems will be spot-on.

As these people spend more time in the care of one doctor or hospital, the situations gradually become more suspicious. Their signs and symptoms may suddenly go away when doctors are present and return after they leave. People will pile on and exaggerate their symptoms when anything threatens to betray the truth. Symptoms may get worse even though tests and imaging turn up nothing, and treatments can have little to no effect at all. Sometimes they will play along with the treatments – which they are usually very eager to get – and report their symptoms are subsiding, but they will ultimately come back again and again.

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