Home

The Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome Article at Your Information Gateway

By Maria Solomon

As a parent you learn a few things. One of these things is that children get sick. They sometimes fall ill with minor colds and viruses, and sometimes they get a nick on the chin or bump on the knee here and there. It's really no big deal. In fact, it's merely part of growing up. However, have you ever encountered a sickness that's not natural in any way? One that's actually inflicted on a child, who's otherwise healthy and normal. Whether you knew it or not, there's an illness known as Munchausen by proxy, which is actually a sickness parents have, rather than children.

The Munchausen by proxy syndrome works in a way that most parents could never fathom. You basically have an emotionally/mentally sick adult, who purposely inflicts harm on his/her child in order to draw attention to him/herself. It's not directly about harming the child, but rather about always having a certain amount of attention. If someone's child is ill, you would probably feel sorry for them. In most cases with Munchausen by proxy, a mother is involved. On some level she doesn't intentionally harm her child, but in reality the kid is harmed and often killed by the mother. Furthermore, many fathers will never notice such a terrible situation simply because most people don't ever think a parent, especially a mother, could harm their child.

Munchausen syndrome is a psychiatric disorder in which those affected fake disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is in a class of disorders known as factitious disorders which involve "illnesses" whose symptoms are either self-induced or falsified by the patient. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome.

In Munchausen syndrome, the affected person exaggerates or creates symptoms of illnesses in themselves in order to gain investigation, treatment, attention, sympathy, and comfort from medical personnel. In some extremes, people suffering from Munchausen's Syndrome are highly knowledgeable about the practice of medicine, and are able to produce symptoms that result in multiple unnecessary operations. For example, they may inject a vein with infected material, causing widespread infection of unknown origin, and as a result cause lengthy and costly medical analyses and prolonged hospital stay.

The role of "patient" is a familiar and comforting one, and it fills a psychological need in people with Munchausen's. It is distinct from hypochondria in that patients with Munchausen syndrome are aware that they are exaggerating, while sufferers of hypochondria actually believe they have a disease. In many cases, this syndrome has been seen to be found in a parent or guardian of a child, who assures his or her child of 'having' a disease and therefore, spending the entire childhood of the child in the hospitals.

MUNCHAUSEN BY PROXY (MBP) (also called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, and Factitious Disorder by Proxy) is a label for a pattern of behavior in which caretakers deliberately exaggerate and/or fabricate and/or induce physical and/or psychological-behavioral-mental health problems in others.

This pattern of behavior constitutes a separate kind of maltreatment (abuse/neglect) that manifests as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, or a combination. The primary purpose of this behavior is to gain some form of internal gratification, such as attention, for the perpetrator. 

A disease may be initiated in the child by the parent or guardian, and this is considered to be a form of serious child abuse. The parent or guardian needs serious psychiatric help and the child needs to be saved on all accounts.

If you think you know someone who suffers with the psychiatric disorder known as Munchausen by proxy syndrome, then it's imperative to take action. As an adult, you always must remember that children aren't supposed to take care of themselves. This is the parent's job, and if they're failing to do so properly, it's okay to step in and take action. Unfortunately those afflicted with Munchausen by proxy are more interested in getting sufficient sympathy than they are making certain their child is alright.

Learn more about the devastating syndrome, Munchausen by proxy by checking out informative websites like kidshealth.org, mbpexpert.com and nlm.nih.gov. Even if you don't know anyone who may be suffering with this psychiatric illness, it's still important to get the scoop on what to look for.

Other resources:
Article collection 1
Article collection 2
Article collection 3
Article collection 4
Article collection 5
Article collection 6

There are so many articles in this site in many diverse subjects. So if you want to search an article, please enter your topic below, and Google will find it for you...