Quote:
Originally Posted by ultramar
There's a patient who I've occasionally interpreted for who regularly comes into the ER with abdominal pain. A nurse, frustrated and annoyed, told me once that she's had every test there is, more than once, and they can find nothing -there's nothing wrong with her.
Well I ended up interpreting again for her last night and the doctor told me she had "factitious disorder." I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up -it's apparently a psychological disorder:
From the Cleveland Clinic:
People with Factitious Disorder deliberately create or exaggerate symptoms of an illness in several ways. They may lie about or mimic symptoms, hurt themselves to bring on symptoms, or alter diagnostic tests (such as contaminating a urine sample).
Those with Factitious Disorders have an inner need to be seen as ill or injured, but not to achieve a concrete benefit, such as a financial gain. Individuals with Factitious Disorder are even willing to undergo painful or risky tests and operations in order to obtain the sympathy and special attention given to people who are truly ill. Factitious Disorder is considered a mental illness because it is associated with severe emotional difficulties.
According to what I've read, this can occur with the mimicking of both physical and psychological symptoms. So it got me thinking: Is it possible that there are people who mimic/fake (consciously or unconsciously) psychological symptoms in therapy?
Do you think this can happen, and if so, why?
|
This could be either
Somatization disorder or
Conversion disorder. It is different from factitious disorder in that the patient actually feels pain and is not exaggerating anything. Before I got diagnosed with PTSD & Depression I had all kinds of complains about physical pain and I tried to blow it off for a couple months but every single day I was screaming in pain. My GP gave me pain pills and they made the pain worse! I went to the ER and they ran me through all sorts of machines and scans and asked me all sorts of questions. Eventually they discharged me saying I had an ulcer, and should seek help through a mental health professional, which didn't explain the widespread muscular skeletal pain I was experiencing. As the pain got worse I started having more frequent and intense panic attacks.
Eventually I broke down and called a local therapist with sliding scale, since I was in such huge debt with the hospital. The therapy definitely helped reduce some of the pain, I also used meditation and eventually herbal medication that inhibits the enzyme monoamine oxidase. This increases the amounts of the neurotransmitters in the brain serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters lifted my mood, increased my motivation and took my pain levels down to an acceptable level. I had another doctor tell me that the pain was caused by the muscles getting so tense and cramped up. It could be an electrolyte imbalance exacerbating the pain this woman is experiencing.
Bottom line is not everybody who has pains that are not explained by medical science is making it up.
Munchausen syndrome and factitious disorder should only be diagnosed if the person does not have another psychiatric disorder. People with somatic complaints that cannot be explained from other medical conditions often have anxiety, mood and personality disorders.
