Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) – or Munchausen syndrome by proxy – is a mental disorder characterised by attention-seeking behavior by a caregiver by those of their care.
MSP is a comparatively rare behavioral disorder. A primary caregiver is affected, often the mother. The person with MSP attracts attention by searching for medical attention for exaggerated or fabricated symptoms of a baby of their care. While health care providers attempt to work out what’s causing the kid's symptoms, the intentional actions of the parent or caregiver can often make the symptoms worse.
The person with MSP doesn’t seem like motivated by a desire for material gain of any kind. Although health care providers are sometimes unable to find out the precise reason for the kid's illness, they could not suspect that the parent or caregiver is harming the kid. In fact, caregivers often seem like very loving and caring and very distraught over their child's illness.
People with MSP may cause or exacerbate a baby's symptoms in a wide range of ways. They may simply lie about symptoms, tamper with tests (e.g. contaminate a urine sample), falsify medical records, or actually cause symptoms through various means, corresponding to: B. through poisoning, suffocation, starvation and infections.
Certain characteristics are common in an individual with MSP, including:
- Is a parent or carer, normally a mother
- Could be a healthcare skilled
- Is very friendly and cooperative with healthcare providers
- Seems quite concerned (some seem overly concerned) about her child
- May have Munchausen syndrome (a related disorder wherein an individual repeatedly acts as in the event that they are physically or mentally sick once they are usually not actually sick)
Other possible warning signs for MSP include:
- The child has had many hospital stays up to now, often with strange symptoms.
- Worsening of the kid's symptoms is usually reported by parents and just isn’t observed by hospital staff.
- The child's reported condition and symptoms don’t match the test results.
- There could also be a couple of unusual illness or death of kids within the family.
- The child's condition improves within the hospital, but symptoms recur when the kid returns home.
- Blood in laboratory samples may not match the kid's blood.
- Signs of chemicals could also be present within the child's blood, stool, or urine.
The exact reason for MSP just isn’t known, but researchers are studying the role of biological and psychological aspects in its development. Some theories suggest that a history of abuse or neglect as a baby or the early lack of a parent could also be aspects within the child's development. Some evidence suggests that major stress, corresponding to marital problems, can trigger MSP.
There are not any reliable statistics on the number of individuals within the United States that suffer from MSP, and it’s difficult to estimate how common the condition is because many cases go undetected.
Diagnosing MSP may be very difficult as a result of the dishonesty involved. Before a diagnosis of MSP might be made, doctors must rule out a possible physical illness because the reason for the kid's symptoms.
If no physical cause for the symptoms is found, an intensive review of the kid's medical history, in addition to a review of family and parental medical history (many have Munchausen syndrome themselves), may provide clues to MSP. Remember that the diagnosis of MSP is made within the adult, not the kid.
The first concern at MSP is to make sure the security and security of any actual or potential victims. This may require the kid to be placed within the care of one other person. In fact, handling a case involving MSP often requires a team that features a social employee, care organizations and law enforcement, in addition to physicians.
Successfully treating individuals with MSP is difficult because victims often deny that there’s a problem. Additionally, treatment success is dependent upon the person telling the reality, and other people with MSP are likely to be such achieved liars that they’ve difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction.
Psychotherapy (a type of counseling) generally focuses on changing the person's pondering and behavior (cognitive behavioral therapy). The goal of MSP therapy is to assist the person discover the thoughts and feelings that contribute to the behavior and learn to develop relationships that are usually not related to illness.
This disorder can result in serious short- and long-term complications, including continued abuse, multiple hospitalizations, and death of the victim. (Research suggests that the mortality rate for MSP victims is about 10%.) In some situations, a baby affected by MSP learns to associate attention with illness and develops Munchausen syndrome themselves.
In general, MSP is a really difficult condition to treat and infrequently requires years of therapy and support.
Additionally, MSP is taken into account a type of child abuse, which is a criminal offense.
There isn’t any known strategy to prevent this disorder.