What Is Factitious Disorder?
2. What Is the History of the Disorder?
The original name of this disorder was Munchausen syndrome. It was named after the German officer Baron von Munchausen, who lived in the 18th century. He suffered from this disorder and would often create spectacular stories about his own life or his family’s that were not true.
This disorder used to include a number of classifications and categories, but the most current manual DSM-V, categorizes all cases simply as factitious disorder. In the past, it used to be categorized as four distinct disorders: psychological symptoms, physical symptoms, both and not otherwise specified. This final category included the disorder by proxy, which is when caregivers or family members intentionally harmed children or elderly individuals to receive attention and to remain needed as a caregiver.
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