[Crying for attention: patients who mimic manifestations of disease]

This article focuses on the different forms of factitious diseases. Patients may mimic or produce the manifestations of a disease in order to attract attention of doctors. Sometimes patients inflict such serious injuries on their own bodies that they need to undergo long-term treatment in a hospital such as in the case of Munchausen syndrome. Recognition of alarm signals associated with this type of condition may help to avoid a long lasting process of illness, screening and unnecessary treatments.