Uncommon Pathology - Münchhausenby Proxy

Overview

The authors discuss the subject of so-called pretended disorders and withintheir framework they try to describe Münchhausen’s syndrome by proxy. Itis a serious form of child abuse, where usually the mother pretends compla-ints of the child in order to gain contact with and attention of health wor-kers. This pathology is difficult to detect as the abusing mothers may appearas loving and caring. The majority of work is focused on pretence of somaticsymptoms in children, there is, however, also the possibility of pretence ofother complaints, e.g. false accusation of sexual abuse. The authors docu-ment their paper by a case-record.

Key words:
pretended disorders, Münchhausen’s syndrome by proxy, falseaccusation of sexual abuse.