A strange mental condition where a parent believes the child has a serious medical condition and the parent usually manages to convince the medics that the child is really ill.
My question to anyone who knows anything about this condition is does the parent really believe the child to be ill or is the parent aware that that he/she is lying about the non-existant symptoms?
(with apologies for the ‘anon’)
I imagin it to be either. The parent could have a mental issue and belives it, or could know they are lying for financial gain?
It is an attention seeking exercise for the parent.The child is co-incidental as the parent craves the attention,and will be responsible for causing or exacerbating an illness.
Wb
In Munchausen by Proxy the parent, usually the mother, isn’t actually just lying to the medical profession about the child’s symptoms but is fabricating symptoms by adding blood to urine or inducing fevers or starving a child etc. It is a form of child abuse and although the parent is aware of the fact that they are doing the physical acts, the connection of what they are doing and why they are doing it is not usually made.
It is very complex but bottom line, if you suspect that any child is a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy you really should make your concerns known to the child’s teacher or GP immediately. Children have died as a result of this tragic mental illness in the parent. And the parent needs urgent help as much as the child needs protection.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002522/
B
thanks
I was the victim of a parent who had MSbP (hence the ‘anon’)
Up to the age of 11 I had a number of medical procedures for non-existant physical illnesses – my mother convincing the medics that I had frequent migraines - acute constipation, severe stomach pains, joint pains etc. From the age of 11 onwards the focus shifted to my mental health - I was prescribed various anti-psychotic drugs for non-existant problems - (try convincing a doctor that you’re o.k. when your mother is doing an oscar winning performance as a caring mother at her wits end!)
Counselling in my 20’s helped - my counsellor commenting that I had been lucky ot survive!
(Oddly enough when m.s. was dx’d my mother simply refused to acknowledge there was anything amiss0
I have since wondered if she knew all along she was making things up when I was a child or was her mental state such that she really believed that I did have these non-existant problems?
Ahhhh, geeze, Anon. That is rough. So sorry and very glad you had counselling and it helped. I doubt if anyone will ever know for sure exacty what your mum was thinking at the time. I doubt even she would be able to fully explain it. But I don’t think Munchauser’s by Proxy is a cold blooded desire to hurt the child. It is far more complex than that and tied up with her having pretty screwed up unmet issues of abandonment and a need for attention.
Whether she protected herself psychologically by truly believing you to be ill to meet her own needs who knows? It is quite possible.
Take care
B
What an extraordinary experience. To have come through that with your sense of who you are intact is pretty amazing. I agree with Belinda about it being impossible to know what your mother might have managed to convince herself she believed. The disordered unconscious will go to amazing lengths to get its needs met. It’s a terrible business when there is a child made to suffer as a consequence.
Alison
x
Listen, As a prison officer I have cone across this a few times. Some mothers have been vindicated and others not. PM if you want to discuss this further but can’t on public forum.
Full marks to you, as Alison’s already said, for coming through this experience.
And thank you for posting. Your post enabled me to read it and your replies out loud to a half-listening audience. Hopefully some of it will have sunk in, because I’m very worried about my stepdaughter but am powerless to do anything.
MHbP seems unlikely, but there’s definitely a LOT of controlling going on, and way too many GP visits, pills and medical procedures.
Thanks again.