title: Neurological syndromes in factitious disorder.
abstract: Factitious disorder is characterized by the intentional feigning of physical or psychological signs and symptoms. The best known type of factitious disorder, Munchausen syndrome, is marked by a chronic unremitting course with repeated hospitalizations. The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency, psychopathological phenomenology, and diagnostic classification according to DSM-III-R in patients with factitious disorder presenting as neurological syndromes. We prospectively included all patients who were hospitalized at our Department of Neurology, Freie Universität Berlin, during a 1-year period. Five of 1538 (.3%) patients were diagnosed as having factitious disorder with feigning of neurological syndromes. Four presented with the classic variant, Munchausen syndrome. All patients had similar, characteristic psychopathological features including self-discharge, aggressive behavior, pseudologia phantastica, and hospital wandering. In these cases the additional diagnosis of personality disorder was made according to DSM-III-R criteria. We concluded that factitious disorder presenting with neurological syndromes may be more prevalent than generally assumed. Our findings confirm the idea of frequent coincidence of factitious and personality disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boegner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001604:Berlin / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005162:Factitious Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009110:Munchausen Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales