Faking it

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Yes, exactly; the "factitious disorder" is actually a real psychological disorder, different from fraud. The person's reasons for doing it are psychological--they want to be a patient, for some reason probably unique to them, maybe because they want people to take care of them or they want to be admired for being brave in the face of illness, etc. Basically, it fills a need for them that they haven't learned to get any other way. Usually the illness is physical, but it can be psychological.

Okay, when you were a little kid, did you ever lie and say you were sick because you wanted to stay home from school?

Let's say your reasons for saying you were sick were, "We have a science test today and I don't want to take it." That's malingering.

But if your reasons were, "I want to stay home and be Mommy's baby for a day," that's factitious illness. Psychological reasons for the fakery. Intensify that a hundred times, and you get the official "factitious disorder", or Munchausen syndrome.

Third possibility, of course, is hypochondria: You don't have the illness, but you think you do because you're so afraid of it. That's an anxiety thing and there's no deception involved at all.

I wonder about body dysmorphia where people feel incomplete with their full body. They want their arms or legs cut off or something else on them. One guy had his nose amputated for no reason but with this condition, they aren't doing it to gain attention or sympathy or because they want to be disabled so they can live off the government or have people take care of them, it's because they feel incomplete. It's like Munchausen or Factitious disorder except it's due to feeling incomplete so they want that body part removed so they feel complete.


I remember wishing I had a wheel chair or crutches because I thought they were cool and envied kids for having one. I think that's pretty normal for kids to feel that way but as they get older they realize it's a disability and their legs don't really work so they need them and they can't just decide to get out of their chair or walk or put their crutches away and start doing things everyone else can do. So that's not really body dysmorphia there because little kids do not understand and they don't know the child needs the chair or crutches because their legs don't work. Instead what they see is the chair or crutches and wish they had one of those thinking they are cool to use and play with. It's body dysmorphia if the feeling stays with the child even though they are aware the person can't help it and it's because their legs do not work. It's hard to tell if the kid has it or not when they are very young like six years old because you expect kids to be ignorant about medical conditions when they are young because they don't understand until they are older. Then they realize they wouldn't want to be in a wheel chair or crutches or want a missing leg just so they can get a wheel chair because it limits what they can do like play sports, work. So I think it's pretty normal for young children wish they had something so they get that accommodation or a wheel chair or crutches, etc. I was the same way.