<P> There are several symptoms that together point to factitious disorder, including frequent hospitalizations, knowledge of several illnesses, frequently requesting medication such as pain killers, openness to extensive surgery, few or no visitors during hospitalizations, and exaggerated or fabricated stories about several medical problems . Factitious disorder should not be confused with hypochondria, as people with factitious disorder syndrome do not really believe they are sick; they only want to be sick, and thus fabricate the symptoms of an illness . It is also not the same as pretending to be sick for personal benefit such as being excused from work or school . </P> <P> People may fake their symptoms in multiple ways . Other than making up past medical histories and faking illnesses, people might inflict harm on themselves by consuming laxatives or other substances, self - inflicting injury to induce bleeding, and altering laboratory samples ." Many of these conditions do not have clearly observable or diagnostic symptoms and sometimes the syndrome will go undetected because patients will fabricate identities when visiting the hospital several times . Factitious disorder has several complications, as these people will go to great lengths to fake their illness . Severe health problems, serious injuries, loss of limbs or organs, and even death are possible complications . </P> <P> Because there is uncertainty in treating suspected factitious disorder imposed on self, some advocate that health care providers first explicitly rule out the possibility that the person has another early - stage disease . Then they may take a careful history and seek medical records to look for early deprivation, childhood abuse, or mental illness . If a person is at risk to themself, psychiatric hospitalization may be initiated . </P> <P> Healthcare providers may consider working with mental health specialists to help treat the underlying mood or disorder as well as to avoid countertransference . Therapeutic and medical treatment may center on the underlying psychiatric disorder: a mood disorder, an anxiety disorder, or borderline personality disorder . The patient's prognosis depends upon the category under which the underlying disorder falls; depression and anxiety, for example, generally respond well to medication and / or cognitive behavioral therapy, whereas borderline personality disorder, like all personality disorders, is presumed to be pervasive and more stable over time, and thus offers a worse prognosis . </P>

How did munchausen by proxy get its name