Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

Women who kill their children are often viewed as evil or cruel. In most cases there is either a clinical explanation, or a mental disorder. At any rate it is usually a lack of patience, support, or attention to the mother that causes a mother to do such things. Post part-um depression often will play a great role in these circumstances. This article is just about one cause for this atrocity. Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy (MSBP) is a disease in which a caregiver (usually the child's mother) will cause illness or manipulate test results to make her child appear to be ill to gain sympathy and attention. It isn't just family attention that they are often seeking, it may also include hospital staff, neighbors, friends, co-workers, and even strangers. Often if a child is very ill, the community will step up and donate to help pay for a cure for the illness ailing them. In most cases the deceit is caught, but in other cases, there are dire consequences. To fully understand MSBP you must first understand Munchausen Syndrome.

Munchausen Syndrome is a disease in which an individual will inflict harm or illness to themselves. Although the health care community is aware of this disease, it is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed until it is too late. Commonly Munchausen Syndrome is confused with hypochondria, who truly believe that they are sick, and go to great lengths to find a reason for the symptoms they seem to be dealing with.

With Munchausen Syndrome. they will produce illness or injury in themselves, and go to great lengths to conceal their deception. Often once you look at a case you will find that they either visited numerous facilities and physicians, and even gave false information when checking into the hospital or clinic. The disease that they choose to mimic is usually a disease in which the testing for the ailment can be altered. Experts say that there is little to no evidence that genetics play a role in Munchausen Syndrome.