F
Facial Paralysis29
Factitious Disorder (Including Munchausen’s Syndrome)
• Malingering: falsifying an illness for a clear secondary gain (e.g., financial gain or avoidance of unwanted duties)
• Somatoform disorders or hypochondriasis: these disorders are produced unconsciously and are not intentionally produced.
• Self-injurious behavior is common in many other psychiatric conditions; in those conditions, the patients confess the intentional self-harm and describe motivating factors. The main intent is the self-harm and not to attain the patient role, as occurs in factitious disorder.
• Munchausen by proxy: a mother (86% of time) or other caregiver induces illness in a child (52% between the ages of 3 and 13 years) for the purpose of obtaining medical attention or some other psychological need. Mothers often have a history of somatoform, factitious, or personality disorder themselves.
