Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

In Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a perpetrator assumes the sick role indirectly (i.e., by proxy) by feigning or producing illness in another person. The primary purpose of this behavior, some believe, is to gain some form of internal gratification, such as attention, for the perpetrator. Usually, the perpetrator is a mother who produces the symptoms or illness in her child of under six years of age (Kahan & Yorker, 1991). However, cases have been reported with adults as both perpetrators and victims. The syndrome is well known to veterinarians. In such cases, a pet's owner fabricates signs and symptoms in the animal (Sigal et al., 1989). MSBP is not uncommon; however its prevalence has not been established. Rosenberg (1987) considered 117 cases in a review. Schreier and Libow (1993) postulated that this syndrome is more common than previously believed, and that many of the cases are not diagnosed. MSBP ranges from diseases that are completely imagined to diseases that are fully induced in the child. The means by which MSBP mothers most frequently fabricate disease are suffocation, induced seizures, bleeding, chronic poisoning with ipecac (leading to vomiting), chronic poisoning with phenolphthalein (leading to diarrhea), and excre