The mental illness where people make up diseases for attention?

Question

What is the illness called when people make up a serious condition for attention? I know someone who tells everyone he has cancer, and is going for chemo..He didn't lose his hair, just shaved his head..Still has arm hair..What is it called when they make the disease up? He really played us for attention, and at first we believed him but now are reallt skeptical about anything he says..

Answer 1

It's called Factitious Disorder in the DSM-IV.

It's also called Munchausen's Disorder, or Munchausen's Disorder by Proxy if someone fakes illness in someone else (usually their child).

They want to play the sick role. If it can be determined the person is doing it to get out of work or to obtain benefits, it's called Malingering. People with Factitious Disorder seem to do it for no particular reason.

People with Hypochondriasis or Somataform Disorder will be preoccupied with illness, but they don't deliberately fake symptoms the way that people with Factitious Disorder will do.

Answer 2

Question: Is there a medical term for a person who keeps doing things that shock others? I have a daughter who feels the need to constantly Shock people..If its dressing and telling people she is a boy. If its telling them she has a sickness, Cutting her arms and posting it on Facebook to get a shock out of her friends. Shaving her head bald. It keeps getting worse. We have seen a professional but they were not any help? Anyone know what this is called..

Answer 3

Making Up Illness For Attention

Answer 4

hypochondriac is the term you are looking for. and some one who makes up conditions about their child has munchausen syndrome. but don't give up on your friend just yet. some doctors recommend that they shave their heads, so that when the hair falls out its not such a shock to them and others, to walk around with patches of hair on their heads, and some people with cancer and chemo never loose their hair, and some loose the hair on their heads and not the rest of their bodies. so don't give up on your friend just yet.

Answer 5

I personally love the Tombstone for the woman that complained all of her life about how bad she always felt.

The she died from her diseases, her tombstone says,

" I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK".

No one can know how someone else truly feels, except that person.

By the way some chemo therapy treatment does not make a person lose their hair.

Answer 6

Munchausen syndrome

Answer 7

KNOW YOUR FACTS BEFORE YOU ANSWER!!!!

Hypochondria=when a person thinks they are always sick and will constantly go to doctors, etc... its a paranoia.
Munchausen= people who make themselves sick to get attention.
Munchausen by Proxy= people who make another person ill, usually a child, to get attention.
((In Munchausen cases, these people dont fake being ill, they actually make themselves, or the proxy, fatally ill. Children have died because their "Muchausen moms".))

Answer 8

Hypochondria

Answer 9

Hypochondria. Munchausen is when they make some one ELSE sick purposely to gain sympathy and attention.

Answer 10

It's called munchausen by proxy.