There is a difference between Munchausen syndrome and hypochondria. A person with Munchausen syndrome desperately seeks medical attention to fulfill severe emotional problems, whereas a person with hypochondria believes they are ill.
Munchausen syndrome is also called factitious disorder. If you have Munchausen syndrome, you have a desperate need to be seen as ill or sick. There is not a clear personal benefit to being seen as sick, such as financial gain. You fake illnesses by exaggerating your symptoms and producing symptoms. You may hurt yourself to produce symptoms, and you may also alter medical tests to have you seen as having a particular disorder. People with Munchausen syndrome typically visit multiple doctors and hospitals in order to get the medical attention they desire. They also have multiple medical tests and procedures performed, and have an unusual eagerness to be subjected to invasive medical tests and procedures. People with Munchausen syndrome typically have self-esteem and identity problems.
Hypochondria is also known as hypochondriasis or health anxiety. If you have hypochondria, you have obsessive thoughts that you suffer from a serious or life-threatening illness, even though the doctor and medical tests say you do not have a serious illness. Even with your doctor telling you that nothing is wrong, or with medical tests coming up with negative results, you still have worries that you have a serious illness, and this consumes you with constant worry and dread, anticipating the worst. Similar to people with Munchausen syndrome, people with hypochondria will typically have multiple visits to doctors and hospitals and have multiple medical tests done. What is different is that the person with hypochondria actually believes they have an illness, whereas the person with Munchausen syndrome has severe emotional problems with identity and self-esteem that they would feign symptoms in order to get unnecessary medical attention to fulfil their emotional needs.
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A very concise and clear explanation between the two phenomena…….now I understand the problems of a close friend, and I may be able to help. Thank you!!!!
I’m glad the article was helpful.
What can be done to help someone that’s suffering from these illnesses ?
Regular visits to their family doctor is the main help for these illnesses, as only the family doctor can really assess objectively if their medical complaints merit further consideration and workup. Nobody else can say one way or another if the symptoms are part of an illness…therefore, regular visits to the family doctor is important.
Very helpful!! Gave lots of important factual information!!
Thanks for visiting!
This gave me the answer I was looking for, as to the difference between the two — thanks for that! — only I wish there had been a paragraph on the clues an outsider might look for in order to be able to begin ascertaining which it is the person being observed has. At the surface the two illnesses present as essentially identical, with the only difference really being that one really and truly believes what they’re presenting while the other is aware, to some degree, that they’re “faking” it. Seems to me it would take a fair amount of time and observation to know which of the two you’re looking at, and was wondering if there were any “tip offs” to look for to get an idea which it is more quickly.
A person with Munchausen Syndrome provides false information and is deceptive, while a person with hypochondria has conviction. As you mention, the key is following the person over time. In addition, it is important to obtain as much collateral information as possible to look for inconsistencies and evidence that false information was given. There is no quick way to assess this, unfortunately, besides getting a psychiatrist to consult with the treatment team as soon as possible.
I came across this because of a post I saw on Facebook. In that post, a woman was describing how she had been constipated as a child, so her mom had her take meds, go to Dr’s, have all kinds of tests, and even threatened to have surgery. She mentioned munchausen syndrome. I researched and found this description because the other in that post sounded like my mom. She, too, is obsessed with constipation and pain “down there.” She will tell anyone and everyone about it, has sought medical help from a variety of Dr’s, went through several tests, procedures, and even surgery. Yet, I’m still unclear of the difference between Munchausen’s and hypochondria. My mom truly believes she has pain “down there” and is convinced there must be some help, somewhere for her if she can just find the right Dr. So, which would you describe my mom as being and why?
The difference is that in Munchausen Syndrome, the symptoms are faked for attention, while in hypochondria, the person really believes they are physically ill. I can’t diagnose without assessing the patient, so the definitive diagnosis should come from a referral to a psychiatrist.
I am grateful for your definition.. now I would like to know how to cope with a husband with munchausen syndrome before I go crazy. He has his Doctor & Surgeons wrapped around his little finger & the regularity of his surgery is very worrying. He is proud to talk about how many ops he has had 54 I think….on eyes, wrist.. the ones in last 12 months…both shoulders replaced, knee replaced, several back injections now he has just come home from his Dr & said he has to go to a younger back surgeon his other one is getting on….this to look at getting his back fused & also back to eye Dr cause he has spots & dizziness. (I told him to take my elderly Mum too cause she has same problem.) He is hugely over weight which I realise is what he is using to create all his symptoms. He refuses to try physio, tens machine or anything that might help. It is either drugs or surgery straight off. He gets angry if I point out that using the chain saw & heavy tools he continues to use doesn’t help. He is 67 & supposed to be retiring…. the attention seeking is backfiring because family know what he is doing & he isn’t getting any sympathy. I have always referred to the story of the “Boy that called Wolf.” Now you have given it a name. The pain is real but he creates the pain so he can whinge & complain & have surgery. It’s very sad to watch.
I’m sorry to hear about how this has affected your family’s lives. I would recommend asking permission from your husband to attend a family meeting with your husband’s doctor, and to discuss your concerns, especially about the lifestyle changes and complementary treatments that are part of a comprehensive treatment plan for any illness. If there is concern about mental health problems, then this needs to be discussed with the family doctor, with a possible referral to a psychiatrist.
After reading this I have come to believe my daughter has a mixture of both. Is that possible?
She was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at 7yrs old, but never accepted the disease. She would’t talk about it outside our immediate family & reluctantly at that. At 17yrs old her boyfriend of 1 1/2 yrs was killed in a car wreck & within a year her favorite grandmother died unexpectedly. First year of college was an eating disorder followed by in patient treatment for 3 months. Depression quickly followed that & trips to psych ward for suicidal thoughts. She moved across the country for expert care with diabetes & discovered she was being treated wrong for it. Once that was under control, it seemed as if everything would even out. She was seeing a pychiatrist specializing in eating disorders when we found out she had been sexually abused by a teacher/friend/pillar of the community. She is also now seeing a therapist specializing in PTSD. It has been 10 yrs since the deaths & treatment center so I’m expecting time and therapy to heal things….. she is now chronically ill with something. Clinical depression, which she tells me about as she races off to coffee with friends & goes to multiple dr appointments. I mean she isn’t dragging herself to these appts, she is fixing her hair & makeup & painting her nails. She sees a neurologist for migraines & possible rheumatoid arthritis. A gastroenterologist for gastroparesis, which she had a feeding tube put in for. The surgeon confirmed this was a real condition & saw for himself the paralyzed stomach. So she does have true medical issues but she adds to them with migraines, clinical depression, paraneuropathy… things that can’t be measured or conclusively tested for. Once she ran through all the meds for her migraines (that she made numerous trips to the ER for) & her neuro dr finally said no more trying anything……now she doesn’t ever mention them. If I ask she will say yes she still has them & that she has earned to live with the pain. I have a great relationship with her but don’t voice my whole opinion about her medical stuff because I know she will get mad & not tell me or just switch to something else. About 5 yrs ago she was in psych ward for bipolar because she read a book about it & mimicked it. I talked to her psych dr & she didn’t believe she had it either so she released her to my care. I researched munchausen and discovered it doesn’t make any difference if you confront the person with it. When she lives with her father & me, she does better physically but then wants to get away from us to live her own life. She has a plan that is huge and wonderful but can’t achieve. I am just upset that after all this therapy & support from family & friends, basically nothing has changed. I cant talk to her drs because of confidentiality laws & they tell her if I even try to. All her lab work comes back great & her primary care dr told her to try & stop worrying so much about her health. He advised her to go play basketball (her high school sport) and try to enjoy life. She did that for 48 hours & then went on line & bought a wheel chair for “just in case”. Btw, she is 29, normal weight, beautiful & brilliant. I, on the other hand, am losing my mind with frustration!!!!
From your description, it sounds like she could have both. The best “treatment” for her is to continue seeing her primary care doctor for regular visits. This primary care doctor seems to know that she is healthy, so encourage her to keep with this same doctor. Only an MD can reassure someone who is worried about their health, and once the tests come back normal, then the main reason for the visits to the doctor is to let her vent and have all her health questions answered. So encourage her to keep seeing her primary care doctor, while discouraging the referrals to specialists, unless the primary care doctor sees a real medical problem. The problem gets worse when they go “doctor shopping” and receive multiple laboratory/medical tests.
hello…i highly suspect an old old friend of mine is suffering from facititious disorder/munchausen syndrome…my question is…can an individual have this disorder and not be aware…that is to say, could they be causing/initiating these problems, but not be aware they are? i have all the compassion one cam have for a friend, but if he is causing these things and he knows he is, that means he is lying to me…something he is not known for…just curious if one can be unaware and at samevtime fully engulfed…thx
Unfortunately, someone with factitious disorder is aware that they are not physically ill. What they may not be aware of is that they have severe emotional problems with identity and self-esteem. So they are not really lying, in that they are not aware that their emotional problems are causing them to feign physical illness. So compassion is in order to address their emotional problems, and to help redirect their worries about physical illness to solving the emotional and psychological problems.
Is it possible for somebody to suffer from both ??
No, they develop from separate processes, as detailed in the article.
Is there a support group for someone that has munchausers and possibly hypochondria, my daughter seems to have a very bad case of this- she only gets out of bed to go to doctors or hospitals. She does not believe she needs therapy, And does not believe the doctors when they tell her she doesn’t have what she believes she has. She has emotionally been draining the whole family.
The last thing someone with Munchausen’s or hypochondria needs is more attention to their maladaptive behaviours. The people around that person just need to focus on the positive things they do well, rather than focus on the behaviours that sabotage themselves and those around them.
What if there’s nothing positive they just complain they aren’t capable of functioning because every little thing you ask them to do they have a sickness or pain somewhere which then leads to an all out blow out of arguments ..
The person has to out sick everybody they come I contact with …. If I mention my legs are bothering me due to lymphdema …then said person complains for the next month on how their legs are hurting them …he goes to the Dr ..comes home with all these serious problems …come to find out ..its nothing at all ..
I hear you, but you still have to take the complaints seriously. But if the doctor states there is no medical cause, then the rest of the complaints should be ignored. If the complaints continue, refer to a psychiatrist.
Dr Carlo
How do I deal with a hypochondriac?
Try showing the hypochondriac some of these techniques: https://anxietyboss.com/what-can-i-do-to-stop-being-a-hypochondriac/
Is it possible to be a hypochondriac over your children? As in if your child as a young infant 4 months old was dianosed with SBS and you get released from doctors stating that there is no longer any blood on the brain at 10months old and you see that MRI for yourself but still constantly worry everytime the child coughs acts different than usual (being more tired from teething or throwing tantrums) and obsessing over head size and shape then comparing pictures of your childs head to other kids heads because you think your child might have brachy(flat head syndrome) or craniostynosis? Would that qualify as being a hypochondriac over someone elses health
No, that’s just called being worried about the well-being of your child. However, if you are constantly worried about medical problems that may befall your child, then you may need to see a psychiatrist to see if anxiety disorder is a problem.
I find myself in a tricky situation. I support someone who I believe will likely be diagnosed with Munchausen. She conveniently has or has had anything anyone else has ever been diagnosed with. She claims she is in recovery from an eating disorder, various addiction issues, etc. She has previously been a cutter and has several scars to show the evidence. She frequently seeks medical attention for anything and everything, averaging approx. 4-6 times per week. Currently we suspect she is misusing baclofen in order to make herself ill.
We have requested a referral to dual diagnosis(as she does also have a cognitive delay), this referral will take quite a while. My concern is how do I best support her in the mean time. She will demand that I pick her up at one hospital and take her to another for a second opinion. It is within her rights to access a second opinion and as her support staff it is my responsibility to assist her in exercising her rights. But, from what I have read, giving her this kind of support will feed into the situation and cause her “symptoms” to escalate.
suggestions?
As the article suggests, there should be one family doctor directing all medical care. Every question regarding anything medical should be vetted through the one and only family doctor. You support her by helping her to follow the directive of the one and only family doctor.
Great article! I have a friend who I always suspected had Munchausen syndrome but after reading this article and some others, I am 100% convinced she has it. I am by no means a professional but she has told me pretty much her entire like story, which is one of being a lifelong overweight person made to feel inadequate in every way, from being taunted in childhood to all of her boyfriends cheating and using her in adulthood and the behavior she exhibits makes it very, very obvious that she is desperate for love and affection. She’s even said things like she’s going to be alone forever and if she died in her house, no one would even know until the neighbors started smelling her body decaying. Since I’ve know her for the past 5 years, whenever a man comes around, she sleeps with them immediately and becomes a bonafide stalker, sometimes calling off work to go hide in bushes or sit in her car down the street from their house for HOURS to monitor their comings and goings. She also constantly brags about how she can beat up anyone, even men, in what seems like a desperate attempt to make people scared of her so they won’t hurt her. As far as her suspected Munchausens, I don’t think I have ever know her to not be sick with some kind of mysterious illness that she claims makes her do things like pass out when no one is around. Her latest illness has all kinds of weird symptoms that are impossible for any doctor to verify and she’s gotten numerous tests from different doctors and hospitals and NONE of them show that anything is wrong with her. Almost inevitably, after every test comes back normal, more strange symptoms pop up. Her mom, who she is very close to, has been a nurse for 30 years and I think even she is starting to suspect the same thing I do about her having Munchausen syndrome. I feel so bad for her and have tried everything I can to help her with her self-esteem, from buying her cute makeup, perfumes, body creams etc to doing her hair for her to going to the gym with her to just listening to her, showing that I care and trying desperately to convince her to love herself but it’s obvious that her emotional problems are too deep-rooted and much more than I or any other non professional can handle. All of her behavior, including her constant “illnesses”, show that she is starved for human affection. It’s obvious that she needs a psychiatrist, not a medical doctor, but if I ever brought any of this up to her, I can definitely see her becoming angry. She’s already an angry and bitter person as it is. Her mom is the only person I know besides myself that truly cares about her but if I even broached the subject with her, I’m sure it would get back to her and ruin our friendship. Any suggestions on how to help this girl and make her understand that she is NOT sick (and all of her medical tests prove it) but that she instead needs emotional help and that there is absolutely nothing wrong or “abnormal” about getting it?
The only proven treatment is for her to see her family doctor/GP regularly, and having the doctor be as empathic as possible to help her through this.