Munchausen Syndrome

Definition: Munchausen Syndrome

Munchausen Syndrome

Noun

1. Syndrome consisting of feigning acute and dramatic illness for which no clinical evidence is ever found.

Specialty Definition: Munchausen Syndrome

Domain	Definition
Health	A factitious disorder characterized by habitual presentation for hospital treatment of an apparent acute illness, the patient giving a plausible and dramatic history, all of which is false. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Munchausen syndrome

Munchausen syndrome is a form of psychological disorder known as a factitious disorder.

The sufferer feigns, exaggerates, or creates symptoms of illnesses in themself in order to gain attention, sympathy, and comfort from medical personnel. The role of "patient" is a familiar and comforting one, and it fills a psychological need in the man or woman with Munchausen's.

In the form of the illness known as Munchausen by proxy the "victim" of the illness is usually the patient's child, while their parent gains attention and sympathy as their "worried" mother or father. Munchausen by proxy is a form of child abuse.

The name derives from one Baron Munchhausen (Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, 1720-1797), to whom were ascribed a series of fantastically impossible tales written by Rudolf Raspe.

External link

http://www.munchausen.com/

Modern Usage: Munchausen Syndrome

Domain	Usage
Lyrics	Goin' through public housin' systems, victim of Munchausen Syndrome (Cleanin' Out My Closet; performing artist: Eminem)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Commercial Usage: Munchausen Syndrome

Domain	Title
Books	Do No Harm?: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (reference) Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Abuse: A Practical Approach (reference) Practical Aspects of Munchausen by Proxy and Munchausen Syndrome Investigation (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expression: Munchausen Syndrome

Expression using "Munchausen syndrome": Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Munchausen Syndrome

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Alternative Orthography: Munchausen Syndrome

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4D 75 6E 63 68 61 75 73 65 6E 53 79 6E 64 72 6F 6D 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001101 01110101 01101110 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 01101110 00100000 01010011 01111001 01101110 01100100 01110010 01101111 01101101 01100101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#77 &#117 &#110 &#99 &#104 &#97 &#117 &#115 &#101 &#110 &#32 &#83 &#121 &#110 &#100 &#114 &#111 &#109 &#101

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004D 0075 006E 0063 0068 0061 0075 0073 0065 006E 0053 0079 006E 0064 0072 006F 006D 0065

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day
munchausen syndrome	149
munchausen syndrome by proxy	61
de munchausen syndrome	5
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Munchausen Syndrome

Definition: Munchausen Syndrome