Munchausen Syndrome
Mental Illness Research Questions - Munchausen Syndrome
What illness are you researching?
Factitious Disorders
Munchausen Syndrome
Ganser Syndrome
What is the definition of your disorder? What might be physical/noticeable characteristics of this disorder?
Munchausen syndrome is a mental disorder where a person repeatedly pretends to have severe illnesses, when they actually are the ones causing the illness to themselves. Those who have this illness will mostly complain of physical pain, as opposed to symptoms of a mental disorder. They tend to be aware of many of these illnesses as well, and having a lot of knowledge on these diseases is a sign that they’ve experienced this before. They usually have very low self esteem, which is the reason …show more content…
What does the research say about the physiology or the psychology of this disorder - what’s going on inside the body to cause this?
There really is no science that’s behind this disorder. However, if an individual had a rough childhood where they were abused (physically or emotionally) or neglected, this may be a contributing factor to this disorder. Sometimes if they had a severe illness when they were little may contribute to this occurring, but there really is no scientific reason as to why this happens.
Source - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_An_Overview_of_Factitious_Disorders/hic_Munchausen_Syndrome and personal knowledge/logic.
How can you help a friend who may be suffering from this disorder? Is there a way to “help” yourself?
Helping a friend may be difficult because those who suffer also deny that they are faking these illnesses, and dishonesty can be hard to confront to a friend. However, here are a few ways that you can help:
Directly ask the friend why they are lying; going along with their lies is only going to make things worse.
Tell someone about it! Unless people are aware, there’s not going to be anything done.
Recommend them to a counselor, and go with them if they’re comfortable with it and want you …show more content…
Finding an alternative that’s healthier, but also gives you the attention you want is the first step in overcoming this disorder.
Going to social gatherings
Talking with friends
Talking to a counselor who will also give you attention
Going to a support group to talk about what you’re going through
Source - https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/new-name-munchausen-syndrome-proxy-defining-fabric
List at least 5 statistics pertaining to your illness. (National, state, city, school, etc., how many people this illness affects, teenage stats vs. adult stats, men vs. women, differences between races, etc.)
There are two main categories of people who are affected
Women who are from 20-40 years old. They can also have a background in healthcare, such as working as a nurse or a medical technician, which can help them succeed in deceiving doctors that they really do have a disease
Unmarried white men, whose ages range from 30-50 years old is a prevalent category as to who has this syndrome
The entire world is affected by this
An estimated six hundred cases of two forms of MSbP (suffocation and non accidental poisoning) occurred in the United States in 1996
Twenty four different countries have reported
What illness are you researching?
Factitious Disorders
Munchausen Syndrome
Ganser Syndrome
What is the definition of your disorder? What might be physical/noticeable characteristics of this disorder?
Munchausen syndrome is a mental disorder where a person repeatedly pretends to have severe illnesses, when they actually are the ones causing the illness to themselves. Those who have this illness will mostly complain of physical pain, as opposed to symptoms of a mental disorder. They tend to be aware of many of these illnesses as well, and having a lot of knowledge on these diseases is a sign that they’ve experienced this before. They usually have very low self esteem, which is the reason …show more content…
What does the research say about the physiology or the psychology of this disorder - what’s going on inside the body to cause this?
There really is no science that’s behind this disorder. However, if an individual had a rough childhood where they were abused (physically or emotionally) or neglected, this may be a contributing factor to this disorder. Sometimes if they had a severe illness when they were little may contribute to this occurring, but there really is no scientific reason as to why this happens.
Source - https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_An_Overview_of_Factitious_Disorders/hic_Munchausen_Syndrome and personal knowledge/logic.
How can you help a friend who may be suffering from this disorder? Is there a way to “help” yourself?
Helping a friend may be difficult because those who suffer also deny that they are faking these illnesses, and dishonesty can be hard to confront to a friend. However, here are a few ways that you can help:
Directly ask the friend why they are lying; going along with their lies is only going to make things worse.
Tell someone about it! Unless people are aware, there’s not going to be anything done.
Recommend them to a counselor, and go with them if they’re comfortable with it and want you …show more content…
Finding an alternative that’s healthier, but also gives you the attention you want is the first step in overcoming this disorder.
Going to social gatherings
Talking with friends
Talking to a counselor who will also give you attention
Going to a support group to talk about what you’re going through
Source - https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/new-name-munchausen-syndrome-proxy-defining-fabric
List at least 5 statistics pertaining to your illness. (National, state, city, school, etc., how many people this illness affects, teenage stats vs. adult stats, men vs. women, differences between races, etc.)
There are two main categories of people who are affected
Women who are from 20-40 years old. They can also have a background in healthcare, such as working as a nurse or a medical technician, which can help them succeed in deceiving doctors that they really do have a disease
Unmarried white men, whose ages range from 30-50 years old is a prevalent category as to who has this syndrome
The entire world is affected by this
An estimated six hundred cases of two forms of MSbP (suffocation and non accidental poisoning) occurred in the United States in 1996
Twenty four different countries have reported