I was raised by a mother with Munchausen’s, MBP, and narcissistic personality disorder. As an infant, she claimed I needed penicillin for “months” until I got anaphylaxis. Throughout my childhood, she had me at the pediatrician nonstop for pneumonia, and would force...
Personal Narrative
Important treatment advice from a woman who recovered from Munchausen by Internet
My name is Robyn and I am currently 53 years old. I was 9 1/2 when my little sister was born. That day, my life changed forever. Not just because I was no longer the baby, but because my sister was born two months early and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. She...
Life with a mother with severe, untreated Munchausen syndrome
My mother has been sick since before I was born, not, however, in the way she has always desired to be sick. Before her children came along, her cat had seizures. Then my older sister had seizures and my mother convinced the pediatrician to write an anti-seizure...
A podcast featuring an amazing father who fought for his son after finding that the child was a medical child abuse victim
Play to Listen
Advice for patients with factitious disorder who are seeking change.
Though I always knew that I had a factitious disorder--at least on some level--it was difficult to admit to it on a practical level. I can go about discussing my childhood, which was not a happy one, but I don’t care to relive it. One of the reasons I found it...
A mixture of Munchausen syndrome and malingering: factitious AIDS
This case is mostly culled from newspaper accounts and is not truly a “personal” narrative. In 2008, Cassey Jo Weierbach was found guilty of welfare fraud, forgery, and records tampering. Pennsylvania state prosecutors accused Cassey of pretending to have AIDS in...
Munchausen syndrome and a cancer hoax
I am convinced that my sister Bernadette is pretending to have terminal cancer. I am angry, upset, and terrified right now. This all started in January, when Bernadette called to tell me that a small tumor had been found on her ovary during a routine scan. She...
A Munchausen by proxy survivor still victimized by her mother’s lies
In all civilized societies, it's a given that mothers protect their children. Protecting children is such normal everyday expected behavior that when a mother not only fails to protect, but actually tries to harm her child, it's something to consider and question. Why...
Malingering mixed with Munchausen syndrome
This is a case in which I was an expert for the defense. Rebecca, a 32-year-old part-time athletic coach, was a passenger in a van operated by the Police Athletic League of a major city. During an outing, the van and a car sideswiped each other. No injuries were...
The Toll of Munchausen by Proxy Abuse—a personal reflection by the “other” parent
Our suspicions about Munchausen by proxy/medical child abuse began when my young son, Sam, came for his first Christmas visit since he had moved to Anchorage with his mother, Amy. Amy and I were divorced. Sam was six years old. Amy had warned us that Sam was suffering...