[Encounter with the so-called Munchausen syndrome in the psychiatric clinic]

The term "Münchhausen's syndrome" comprises a group of patients characterised by habitual presentation for hospital treatment, mostly by means of a dramatic situation of an apparent acute illness caused by an either simulated or artificially produced disorder. The authors discuss a case that had been presented to them, and turn their attention to the problems of pathology, psychodynamics and differential diagnosis connected with this particular patient. Diagnostic classification may differ widely, depending on the individual case. In this particular woman patient the authors tend to diagnose, more likely than not, a borderline personality disturbance as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM III) of the American Psychiatric Association, this diagnosis being made mainly on the grounds of psychodynamic deliberations.