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The Münchhausen of Munchausen SyndromeA Historical Perspective
Richard I. Haddy, MD
Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(2):141-142.
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THE TERM Munchausen syndrome has been used colloquially and in the medical literature to describe a patient who travels from hospital to hospital feigning illness, often with dramatic presentation, and risks dangerous diagnostic and surgical procedures to gain hospital admission. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition (DSM-III-R) renamed and classified the illness as chronic factitious disorder with physical symptoms (301.51).1 It has been proposed that the term Munchausen syndrome be abandoned since it conveys no idea of the psychodynamics behind the patient's behavior.2,3 The term has also been considered flippant in that it may reflect the medical profession's understandable, although not very rational, attempt to get even with these patients.4 The need exists for collecting a large prospective series of
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Dayton, Ohio
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