What is it called when you want to be sick?!


Question: Its not hypochondria, thats the fear of getting sick. What is it called when you like being sick, and want to be? Not wanting to die, just be really sick and hospitalized.


Answers: Its not hypochondria, thats the fear of getting sick. What is it called when you like being sick, and want to be? Not wanting to die, just be really sick and hospitalized.

I believe you are referring to Munchhausen Syndrome...

(taken directly from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchhausen...

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. 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.

Munchhausen Syndrome

hypochondria

For me it's called school...
Yeah, but I don't think I've ever heard of a term for people who just want themselves to be sick, but I have heard of terms for parents who want to keep their children sick for attention or money of whatever.

Attention hungry.

Depends on what your motivation is, Munchhausen's if you like the attention but some kind of masochism if it's because you like to suffer.

At an informal level I think it's also sometimes referred to as "malingering".

These are all categorized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th edition (DSM IV) as Factitious Disorders. There are few different types of factitious disorder:
Malingering, Conversion Disorder, Somatization Disorder, and Munchausen Syndrome.

What you are describing sounds just like Munchausen Syndrome, because these people like the attention they gain from making people believe they are ill and they will actually make themselves ill often time, just so they can keep getting the attention.





The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories