Munchausen syndrome
pretending to be ill, in order to receive medical attention
TRANSLATION
Münchhausen Syndrom
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"At one point she confesses to having a form of Munchausen syndrome, in which the patient pretends illness after illness. Writes Slater, 'Perhaps I was, and still am, a pretender, a person who creates illnesses because she needs time, attention, touch, because she knows no other way of telling her life's tale.'"
(Lisa Shea, Lying, Elle Magazine, June 2000)
(Lisa Shea, Lying, Elle Magazine, June 2000)
Did you
know?
Wordwise: This fascinating disorder is where otherwise healthy individuals seek to hospitalize themselves with feigned or self-induced pathology in order to receive surgical or other medical treatment. It is named after Baron von Munchhausen (1720-1797), German soldier and raconteur whose fictionalized accounts of his own experiences suggest symptoms of the disorder.
