Factitious mourning: painless patienthood

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology

Background:

• Investigating patients who falsely report deaths of loved ones to assume the patient role.
• Examining the psychiatric presentations and histories of individuals engaging in deceptive care-eliciting behaviors.

Observation:

• Most patients presented with depression and suicidal ideation.
• These symptoms were secondary to unverifiable reported dramatic deaths.
• Many patients had histories of factitious physical symptoms, manipulative suicide attempts, substance abuse, and sociopathy.

Findings:

• Standard diagnostic categories were of limited utility for this patient group.
• Factitious symptoms are conceptualized as a form of dysfunctional care-eliciting behavior.
• The study highlights complex underlying characterological issues.

Implications:

• Recommends early, firm, nonjudgmental confrontation of deceptive behaviors.
• Suggests referral to outpatient psychotherapy targeting characterological problems.
• Emphasizes understanding factitious symptoms within a broader behavioral framework.