For those of you interested in the previous post regarding the woman who faked cancer:
Marc D. Feldman, M.D.
Jenny (a pseudonym) was one of those "invisible" people we all know and overlook each day. A secretary for a manufacturing company, Jenny was as a diligent employee, but one who hadn't developed many friends at work.
Nevertheless, she seemed to find all the companionship she needed in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend. Week in and week out, her world seemed never to change, and yet she seemed satisfied. Then one day everything, suddenly and quietly, fell apart. Jenny's boyfriend announced he was leaving her: he had fallen in love with another woman and was moving out.
Horrified and adrift, with no one to call on for comfort, Jenny chose a remarkable way out of her loneliness. She mobilized an instant support network by showing up at work one day and announcing, "I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. And it's too late. It's terminal." It was also a lie.
Jenny had found a remarkable and desperate way to mobilize an instant support network of sympathetic co-workers. Eventually she enrolled in a breast cancer support group, shaved her head to mimic the effects of chemotherapy, and dieted to lose 50 pounds all to keep the illusion alive. Jenny was suffering not only from a broken heart, but from an emotional ailment called "factitious disorder."
People with factitious disorder feign or actually induce illness in themselves, typically to garner the nurturance of others. In bizarre cases called "Munchausen syndrome by proxy," they even falsify illness in another person (such as their own children) in order to garner attention and sympathy for themselves as the heroic caregiver.
Desperate? Of course. Yet more common than you might think. Experts estimate that one percent of hospitalized patients are faking their ailments. The medical bills in one case alone amounted to $6 million.
Clearly factitious disorders are sapping an already-burdened health care system. They also defy the imagination. Patients have bled themselves into anemia and then showed up at a doctor's office stating they haven't a clue about how they became so ill. Others have secretly taken laxatives to induce diarrhea, or mimicked seizures so convincingly that neurologists hospitalized them on the spot.
The good news: this phenomenon is finally coming out of the closet. In recent months, newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs have all described cases of factitious disorder, helping both health professionals and the general public to become aware. At the same time, factitious disorder patients are recognizing that, twisted as their behavior may seem even to themselves, help is available.
In Jenny's case, the ruse of cancer came crashing down when the leaders of the breast cancer support group discovered that she had lied about her medical care. Referred for psychiatric care, Jenny revealed feelings of overwhelming depression, and this deep depression had fueled her factitious behavior. Treated with antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, Jenny ended her illness portrayals and moved on--decisively--with her life. She has never resorted to factitious illness again.
Jenny (a pseudonym) was one of those "invisible" people we all know and overlook each day. A secretary for a manufacturing company, Jenny was as a diligent employee, but one who hadn't developed many friends at work.
Nevertheless, she seemed to find all the companionship she needed in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend. Week in and week out, her world seemed never to change, and yet she seemed satisfied. Then one day everything, suddenly and quietly, fell apart. Jenny's boyfriend announced he was leaving her: he had fallen in love with another woman and was moving out.
Horrified and adrift, with no one to call on for comfort, Jenny chose a remarkable way out of her loneliness. She mobilized an instant support network by showing up at work one day and announcing, "I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. And it's too late. It's terminal." It was also a lie.
Jenny had found a remarkable and desperate way to mobilize an instant support network of sympathetic co-workers. Eventually she enrolled in a breast cancer support group, shaved her head to mimic the effects of chemotherapy, and dieted to lose 50 pounds all to keep the illusion alive. Jenny was suffering not only from a broken heart, but from an emotional ailment called "factitious disorder."
People with factitious disorder feign or actually induce illness in themselves, typically to garner the nurturance of others. In bizarre cases called "Munchausen syndrome by proxy," they even falsify illness in another person (such as their own children) in order to garner attention and sympathy for themselves as the heroic caregiver.
Desperate? Of course. Yet more common than you might think. Experts estimate that one percent of hospitalized patients are faking their ailments. The medical bills in one case alone amounted to $6 million.
Clearly factitious disorders are sapping an already-burdened health care system. They also defy the imagination. Patients have bled themselves into anemia and then showed up at a doctor's office stating they haven't a clue about how they became so ill. Others have secretly taken laxatives to induce diarrhea, or mimicked seizures so convincingly that neurologists hospitalized them on the spot.
The good news: this phenomenon is finally coming out of the closet. In recent months, newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs have all described cases of factitious disorder, helping both health professionals and the general public to become aware. At the same time, factitious disorder patients are recognizing that, twisted as their behavior may seem even to themselves, help is available.
In Jenny's case, the ruse of cancer came crashing down when the leaders of the breast cancer support group discovered that she had lied about her medical care. Referred for psychiatric care, Jenny revealed feelings of overwhelming depression, and this deep depression had fueled her factitious behavior. Treated with antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, Jenny ended her illness portrayals and moved on--decisively--with her life. She has never resorted to factitious illness again.
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