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MENTAL MODEL · M5743

Munchausen Syndrome

Munchausen Syndrome
BehaviorHigh supportClinical Psychology
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Factitious disorder imposed on self (also known as Munchausen syndrome in Taiwan) is a mental illness in which individuals fabricate or exaggerate symptoms of illness, pretend to be sick, or even deliberately harm themselves or others to gain sympathy. It is also colloquially known as "doctor shopping," "hospital addiction," or "malingering." The disorder is named after a German baron, Freiherr von Münchhausen, who fabricated many adventurous stories about himself, such as walking on the moon or pulling himself up by his own hair. In 1951, an article published in the renowned British medical journal The Lancet first used the term Munchausen syndrome to describe this condition. A related disorder, such as that of a 35-year-old mother from Texas, Kaylene Bowen, who began lying to subject her son to unnecessary medical tests and surgeries when he was only 11 months old, should be diagnosed as factitious disorder imposed on another.

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Factitious disorder imposed on self (also known as Munchausen syndrome in Taiwan) is a mental illness in which individuals fabricate or exaggerate symptoms of illness, pretend to be sick, or even deliberately harm themselves or others to gain sympathy. It is also colloquially known as "doctor shopping," "hospital addiction," or "malingering."

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Patients deliberately feign or produce symptoms to obtain the attention and care associated with the "sick role," with the motivation being the role itself rather than treatment. This is a factitious disorder, where the individual exploits the victim role to extract emotional and material resources from others.

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%B9%E8%87%AA%E8%BA%AB%E7%9A%84%E5%81%9A%E4%BD%9C%E6%80%A7%E9%9A%9C%E7%A2%8DZH · Explicit
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