A Radical Reexamination of the Association Between Pathological Lying and Factitious Disorder

[摘要] pathological lyingliespseudologia fantasticafactitious disorderMunchausen syndromePathological lying (also known as pseudologia fantastica or phantastica) has been associated with Munchausen syndrome since 1951 when Asher first coined the term Munchausen syndrome.1 The association was concretized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III), when factitious disorder diagnosis first came to light.2 Pathological lying and factitious disorder (sometimes used interchangeably with Munchausen syndrome) maintained their connection through various iterations of the DSM from DSM-III to DSM-IV-TR3 (including DSM-III-R4 and DSM-IV5). These versions of the DSM state that the best studied form of factitious disorder has been called Munchausen syndrome. They also state, in similar language, that individuals with factitious disorder with predominantly physical symptoms “may indulge in uncontrollable, pathologic lying, in a manner intriguing to the listener, about any aspect of their history or symptoms (pseudologia fantastica)” (Ref. 3, p 514). Surprisingly, however, the association between the two phenomena was dropped in DSM-56; there is no mention of pathological lying under factitious disorder.

[学科分类] 儿科学

[关键词] pathological lying;lies;pseudologia fantastica;factitious disorder;Munchausen syndrome