I have a couple of questions for my psych homework that I don't understand, here it is:?

I have to diagnos these following scenarios:


"Steve, age 34, has spent the last 3 weeks in teh hospital being treated for an alaphylactic reaction to penicillin which was injected to treat another disorder. Steve was aware of his penicillin sensitivity, but did not inform anyone in the hospital of the problem. Growing up he was a sickly child and had numerous childhood illnesse. He spent most of his adult like in and out of hospitals. He blames these numerous visits on other people being irresponsible and not doing there job to find out what is wrong with him. When Steve is admitted to a hospital, he is a bad patient, requiring extra care and constant monitoring. As soon as he is discharged from one hospital, he presents himself at another. Some of his symptoms have included acute gastrointestinal pain, skin ulcerations(from injecting saliva under his skin), and blindness(he poured caustic lye into his eyes to produce blindness.)





Any diagnoses are greatly appreciated! thanks.

I have a couple of questions for my psych homework that I don't understand, here it is:?
According to the DSM-IV-TR (pg. 513), the difference between malingering and facticious disorders is that the self injury in malingering cases is purposeful (e.g., they are trying to get out of jury duty or something). In the case above, the patient's only motivation is to "assume the sick role." Thus, I'd say he suffers from "factitious disorder with predominantly physical signs and symptoms"--if you wanted to include both the type and subtype in your answer (pg. 514). Oh, and just so you know, while "Munchausan's" is probably correct--it is not an official DSM-IV diagnosis. Your psych prof might want you to stick to the DSM-IV manual. If so, just list the type and subtype in your answer. Good luck!
Reply:and the name of the disease slips my tongue.......Munchausen syndrome
Reply:Munchausen syndrome is a type of factitious disorder, or mental illness, in which a person repeatedly acts as if he or she has a physical or mental disorder when, in truth, they have caused the symptoms. People with factitious disorders act this way because of an inner need to be seen as ill or injured, not to achieve a concrete benefit, such as financial gain. They are even willing to undergo painful or risky tests and operations in order to get the sympathy and special attention given to people who are truly ill. Munchausen syndrome is a mental illness associated with severe emotional difficulties.
Reply:munchausen syndome pretty sure this is it








http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/he...
Reply:Look it up, there is something called Munchhousen's Syndrome that sounds like this, where the patient hurts themselves to get to the hospital.
Reply:It sounds as if he might have Munchausen's. (That might not be spelled right, so be sure to double-check.) These patients are, in a sense, medical care addicts. They will cause themselves to become injured or sick for the specific goal of receiving medical care, usually in a hospital. Because they want to remain in the hospital, they can be difficult patients to work with, since they depend on deceiving their physicians to keep their story going as long as possible. They often go from one hospital to another, since as soon as a hospital discovers that they have this psychological disorder the hospital will refuse to give any medical care. It sounds like Steve might have only received attention from his illnesses as a child, and this pattern caused him to believe that he would only be given care/love/attention when he was ill. As a result, he feels a compulsion to lie/hurt himself in order to obtain that attention.





This disorder is different from a patient who self-injures: these patients find emotional relief in the act of self-injury itself and will often avoid seeking medical care for their self-inflicted injuries.
Reply:Its sounds like a somatoform disorder, probably conversion disorder because the symptoms don't seem to make biological sense, indicating that he is malingering.


However, conversion disorders typically occur after a seriously stressful event and occur as a way for the patient to escape, so I may be wrong.


What about somatization disorder? Because he seeks medical treatment and because it started in childhood...


Munchausen's also seems likely because he blames others for his "bad care".


What do you think?

bougainvillea