Factitious disorder imposed on self

[2] Patients with FDIS intentionally falsify or induce signs and symptoms of illness, trauma, or abuse to assume this role.

This is considered "Munchausen by proxy", and the drive to create symptoms for the victim can result in unnecessary and costly diagnostic or corrective procedures.

[5] The historical baron became a well-known storyteller in the late 18th century for entertaining dinner guests with tales about his adventures during the Russo-Turkish War.

In 1785, German-born writer and con artist Rudolf Erich Raspe anonymously published a book in which a heavily fictionalized version of "Baron Munchausen" tells many fantastic and impossible stories about himself.

[6][7] That patients can exaggerate or inflict symptoms on themselves has been recognized since antiquity, with the second century manuscript attributed to Galen titled On Feigned Diseases and the Detection of Them.

[8] In 1843, Scots physician Hector Gavin invented the term "factitious disease" to describe persons who faked medical symptoms for sympathy, attention or "some inexplicable cause”.

[8] In the 1930s, psychiatrist Karl Menninger noted some patients compulsively insisted on medically unnecessary surgeries, often seeking out a physician with a powerful or dynamic personality.

[8] In 1951, Richard Asher coined the term "Munchausen syndrome" to describe a pattern of self-harm, wherein individuals fabricated histories, signs, and symptoms of illness.

[10] In factitious disorder imposed on self, the affected person exaggerates or creates physical or psychological symptoms of illnesses in themselves to gain examination, treatment, attention, sympathy or comfort from medical personnel.

Once the person's history has been thoroughly evaluated, diagnosing factitious disorder imposed on self requires a clinical assessment, typically performed by a psychiatrist.

[17] For a person to be diagnosed with factitious disorder imposed on self, they must meet the following criteria:[14][18] There are common methods for inducing certain symptoms and mimicking specific diseases.

[31] During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing amount of TikTok users, primarily teenage girls,[32] began to present with tics and vocalizations similar to those associated with Tourette syndrome.

[33] However, lack of congruent family history and other diagnostic criteria led some experts to interpret this phenomenon as mass psychogenic illness[33] facilitated by social media.

[39] Patients with underlying depression and/or anxiety are typically responsive to antidepressants with or without cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy.

[49][50] Factitious disorder imposed on another, also referred to as Munchausen's by proxy, occurs when an individual induces symptoms or feigns illness in someone else to receive some form of psychological satisfaction for themselves.