A Fundamental Guide To Factitious Disorder

Potential Complications

Individuals with factitious disorder will continually put their life (or the life of another) at serious risk for doctors and others to see them as sick. Due to this, and since they may also have other mental illnesses, they face serious complications. These include significant injury or death from self-inflicted wounds or medical conditions, substance abuse, significant issues in their personal and professional relationships, as well as infections and other health issues from unnecessary procedures. In cases of factitious disorder by proxy, these complications, save for substance abuse and personal and professional relationship issues, apply to the victim of the individual who has factitious disorder.

Reaching A Diagnosis

Unfortunately, diagnosing factitious disorder is incredibly difficult, given those who have it are quite good at deception, and they may even have real medical conditions, even if they are self-inflicted. However, if a doctor does suspect their patient has factitious disorder, they will go through many processes to reach a final diagnosis. These processes include conducting a detailed interview, obtaining past medical records, speaking with other medical professionals who are treating the same patient, running only the required medical tests, and working with the patient’s family to obtain more information. If not already involved, doctors will often engage a psychiatrist or psychologist into this process, particularly when they cannot find a physical reason for their patient’s symptoms.