How are factitious disorders different from somatic symptom and dissociative disorders?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Somatic symptom or dissociative disorders involve physical/psychological symptoms that are not consciously faked. By contrast, people with factitious disorders deliberately create physical symptoms in themselves or others in what appears to be a motivation to assume a sick role. In addition to faking a host of physical ailments (e.g., kidney/urinary tract infections, hemophilia, and chest and abdominal pain) through deceptive practices, they are willing to undergo numerous invasive and dangerous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Furthermore, they never reveal that they are creating their own symptoms.

People with factitious disorders often go to emergency rooms during evenings and weekends when they are more likely to be evaluated by junior clinical staff. They may invent aliases and present false demographic and medical history information. In addition to faking medical disorders, factitious patients may also fake psychological disorders such as multiple personality disorder, memory loss and grief, to name a few. Factitious disorder is also unique in that it may be induced in another through proxy efforts by an abusive perpetrator.