Munchausen Syndrome Essay -- Disease/Disorders Health

Munchausen Syndrome History Munchausen Syndrome, an illness of psychiatric nature, was first introduced by Richard Asher in 1951 (Zibis et al., 2010). Although Munchausen Syndrome had been described in 1931 by Karl Menninger in medical publications it wasn’t until 1951 that Richard Asher published three case reports and the disorder gained interest (Turner, Reid 2002).The syndrome, as described by the Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals (2008), is a severe form of a factitious disorder in which the patient tends to feign some kind of illness (physical or mental) without an external reason. Richard Asher was a renowned British endocrinologist and hematologist who is said to have named the syndrome after the fictionalized accounts of Baron Karl Friederich Munchausen (1720-1791) a German soldier who was famous for the adventurous tales about his life (Murray, 1997). Consequently because of the extensive traveling, peculiar stories and refractory treatment, as more cases appeared the syndrome took on various names such as the following: pathologic malingering, chronic factitious illness, and peregrinating problem patients (Justus, Kreutziger, Kitchens 1980). Diagnosis Patenaude, Zitsch, and Hirschi (2006) define a factitious disease as one in which the patient consciously and purposely injures themselves in order for a physician or caretaker to make a wrongful diagnosis and thus be submitted to treatment. Munchausen Syndrome is characterized by the patients’ continuous attempt for admittance at hospitals after a dramatic show of physical symptoms (Zibis et al., 2010). The disorder is associated with severe emotional problems specifically in patients with histrionic or borderline personalities; these ten... ... http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/print/psychiatric_disorders/somatoform_and_factiti ous_disorders/munchausen_syndrome.htm Murray, J. (1997). Munchausen Syndrome/Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. The Journal Of Psychology: Interdisciplinary And Applied, 131(3), 343-352. Patenaude, B., Zitsch III, R., & Hirschi, S. D. (2006). Blood-but not bleeding-at a tracheotomy site: A case of Munchausen's syndrome. ENT: Ear, Nose & Throat Journal,85(10), 677-679. Turner, J., & Reid, S. (2002). Munchausen's syndrome. The Lancet (Sciencedirect),359(9303), 346-349. Zibis, A. H., Dailiana, Z. H., Papaliaga, M. N., Vrangalas, V. A., Mouzas, O. D., & Malizos, K. N. (2010). Munchausen syndrome: A differential diagnostic trap for hand surgeons. Journal Of Plastic Surgery And Hand Surgery, 44(4-5), 222-224.