Question

A person who fakes symptoms for a goal is called a _________, while a person who fakes a disease for no clear goal has a ________disorder:

Answer 1

Answer: malingerer; factitious

Explanation:

Malingerer and factitious disorders both involve people who exaggerate symptoms or make up symptoms of a certain illness. However, those disorders have some differences.

Factitious disorder is classified as a somatic symptom disorder so it is a mental illness. People with this disorders exaggerate or lie about having medical or psychiatric symptoms and there are two kinds of factitious disorder:

Factitious disorder imposed on self (FDIS) also known as Munchausen syndrome: The person lies about their own health.

Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA) also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy: The person lies about someone else’s symptoms or disease. The victim is usually a child or any person who can’t take care of themselves.

People with these disorders often go to see a doctor in a hospital or clinic. They talk about symptoms of a made up illness and they also may injure themselves or somebody else. And usually, they may try to fake diagnostic test results.

Malingerers exaggerate or make up symptoms of an illness which can be physical or psychiatric and they do it for personal gain. However, they have clear external motivations that drive their behavior. Some of those reasons include:

• A financial gain
• Reducing work obligations
• To avoid prison time
• To get time off work
• To get prescriptions for medications

All of this also means that treatment is different for each disorder.

Answer 2

Answer:

A person who fakes symptoms for a goal is called a malingerer, while a person who fakes a disease for no clear goal has a factitous disorder:

Explanation:

Malingerer is someone who attempts to shirk or escape from duty/ responsibility by feigning. Malingering is the result of a person desire to gain a reward or avoid something and it is not caused by any physical factors. While Factitious disorder entails a person acting as if he or she has a physical or mental illness.