| Description |
xi, 228 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Ch. 1. Terminal by Choice -- Ch. 2. The Longing for Nurturance -- Ch. 3. A Personal Vampire -- Ch. 4. Tailspin: The Development of Factitious Illnesses -- Ch. 5. Taller Tales Were Never Spoken -- Ch. 6. Manipulating Mercury: Fake Fevers -- Ch. 7. Sensational Symptoms -- Ch. 8. If I Should Lie Before I Wake -- Ch. 9. False Accusations -- Ch. 10. Pain for Gain: The Motives Behind the Acts -- Ch. 11. Playing the Madman -- Ch. 12. The Deadliest Game of All: When Factitious Disorders Become Child Abuse -- Ch. 13. Victims of the Great Pretenders -- Ch. 14. The Legal and Ethical Boiling Pot -- Ch. 15. Discovery, Confrontation, Treatment |
| Summary |
As children, most of us played sick at one time or another to get our parents' sympathy and attention. In Patient or Pretender, psychiatrists Marc Feldman and Charles Ford take us into the strange world of people who take the game of playing sick to pathological, sometimes fatal, extremes. Driven by the need for attention, these people manufacture physical and psychological symptoms, often injuring themselves to get medical treatment. And, in the process, these "great pretenders" mislead and victimize their families and friends, baffle physicians, and wantonly consume precious medical resources. Meet Jenny, the secretary who feigned breast cancer and went so far as to shave her head, lose weight, and even join a cancer support group. Then there is the mother who suffocated her own child so she could play the role of martyred parent. These compelling case studies read like medical detective stories, as doctors try to separate fact from fiction and explore the real causes of their patients' illnesses. Along the way, Drs. Feldman and Ford offer us insights, not only into the workings of desperate minds, but the human condition in general |
| Analysis |
Behavioural disorders |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Subject |
Factitious disorders.
|
|
Munchausen syndrome.
|
|
Sick Role.
|
|
Factitious Disorders.
|
|
Factitious Disorders.
|
|
Sick Role.
|
| Author |
Ford, Charles V., 1937-
|
|
Reinhold, Toni.
|
| LC no. |
93013547 |
| ISBN |
0471120138 (paperback) |
|
0471580805 (cloth : alk. paper) |
|
