Factitious disorder presents one of the most challenging variants of psychopathology in medicine. The Spectrum of Factitious Disorders is the first book for professionals to offer a comprehensive overview of current thinking about patients who feign or induce illness -- in themselves or others -- to accrue the intangible benefits of the "sick" role. Attempts to influence factitious patients' behavior have been largely unsuccessful. This volume covers innovative techniques for treating such patients, stressing the need to treat them with acceptance and understanding. First-person accounts are used to illustrate the intense feelings mobilized in friends, family members, caregivers, and patients themselves as factitious disorders play out. The book also presents a management approach that emphasizes respect for the patient, no matter what the symptomatology. Using abundant case material, this revolutionary work aids mental health practitioners in understanding the phenomenon of "disease-forgery" and addresses its inherent management challenges. Notable contributors provide relevant information on ethical and legal issues in factitious disorders. The clinical features, detection, and management of factitious disorder by proxy are explored, along with comprehensive psychosocial assessment and legal issues in such cases.

How far will some people go to get attention? In compelling cases that read like medical detective stories, the authors take readers into the lives and minds of people whose craving for attention compels them to fake illness, sometimes to the point of death.

Most of us can recall a time when we pretended to be sick to reap the benefits that go along with illness. By playing sick, we gained sympathy, care, and attention, and were excused from our responsibilities. Though doing so on occasion is considered normal, there are those who carry their deceptions to the extreme. In this book, Dr. Marc Feldman describes people’s strange motivations to fabricate or induce illness or injury to satisfy deep emotional needs. Doctors, family members, and friends are lured into a costly, frustrating, and potentially deadly web of deceit. From the mother who shaves her child’s head and tells her community he has cancer, to the co-worker who suffers from a string of incomprehensible "tragedies," to the false epilepsy victim who monopolizes her online support group, "disease forgery" is ever-present in the media and in many people’s lives. In Dying to be Ill: True Stories of Medical Deception, Dr. Feldman, with the assistance of Gregory Yates, has chronicled this fascinating world as well as the paths to healing. With insight developed from 25 years of hands-on experience, Dying to be Ill is sure to stand as a classic in the field.

Get a quick, expert overview of complex childhood psychiatric disorders from Drs. David I. Driver and Shari Thomas of Healthy Foundations Group. This practical resource presents a summary of today’s current knowledge and best approaches to topics from gender dysphoria to childhood onset schizophrenia and other complex psychiatric disorders. Comprehensive guide for any professional working with children. Consolidates today’s evidence-based information on complex childhood psychiatric disorders into one convenient resource. Provides must-know information on evaluation and management. Covers a range of psychiatric disorders of children including drug-induced mania and psychosis, concussions, ADHD, technology addiction, sleep disorders, and eating disorders.

Now in its second edition, this established text provides the practical information needed to treat patients with anorexia nervosa and related eating disorders. It is suitable for all health care professionals involved in eating disorder management, with special information provided for general practitioners, nurses, family carers and nutritionists.

The economic impact of society’s efforts to rehabilitate and contain psychopathically disordered individuals can be enormous. Understanding these disorders, developing valid assessment methods and providing safe, effective treatments is therefore of paramount importance. Reflecting the work of a truly international panel of experts from Europe, North America and Asia, the International Handbook on Psychopathic Disorders and the Law offers an in-depth, multidisciplinary look at key aspects of the development and etiology of psychopathic disorders, current methods of intervention, treatment and management, and how these disorders impact decision-making in civil and criminal law.

Beset by contradictions, somatoform and factitious disorders have an unusually long, rich, and colorful historical and clinical tradition. Yet, some of them have received only limited empirical investigation. This book continues that rich tradition by offering a broad and scholarly synthesis of the current knowledge -- and controversies -- about somatoform and factitious disorders. Here you'll find up-to-date, clinically focused overviews of these intriguing and often difficult-to-treat disorders. Recognized experts present the latest findings along with insightful recommendations and illustrative case studies on Somatization disorder -- The evolution and problems of diagnostic criteria (e.g., its focus on symptom counting), epidemiology, clinical features, etiologic considerations, differential diagnosis (e.g., contrasted with depressive and anxiety disorders), evaluation (use of questionnaires), and treatment considerations (psychotherapy, psychotropic medications). Hypochondriasis -- History, clinical features, theoretical models (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and physiologic), research studies, and practical techniques for treatment (from pharmacotherapy to cognitive behavioral therapy to alternative treatments such as relaxation therapy). Body dysmorphic disorder -- History and prevalence, clinical features, treatment (including surgery and nonpsychiatric medical treatment), etiology and pathophysiology (its relationship to obsessive-compulsive, depressive, and eating disorders), and diagnosis and misdiagnosis. Conversion disorder -- Diagnostic criteria and clinical subtypes, history and definitions, models of symptom generation, functions served by conversion symptoms, associated features, epidemiology, demographic and disease course, comorbidity, differential diagnosis, and treatment (best done in collaboration with an internist, primary care physician, or neurologist). Factitious disorders (widely known as Munchausen syndrome, its most extreme subtype) -- Empirical evidence related to epidemiology and etiology; diagnosis, clinical description, prevalence, and associated costs; limitations of current approaches; the reliability and usefulness of differential diagnoses; comorbidity, etiology, and management. Both concise and thorough, this extensively annotated volume clarifies the issues surrounding these fascinating disorders and offers practical guidance and recommendations, highlighting the pressing need for further research to improve patient care. As such, it will prove compelling reading for practicing psychiatrists and other physicians in any clinical setting who want to better understand the baffling complexities of these distressing disorders.