A Fundamental Guide To Factitious Disorder

Reaching A Diagnosis

Unfortunately, diagnosing factitious disorder is incredibly difficult, given those who have it are quite good at deception, and they may even have real medical conditions, even if they are self-inflicted. However, if a doctor does suspect their patient has factitious disorder, they will go through many processes to reach a final diagnosis. These processes include conducting a detailed interview, obtaining past medical records, speaking with other medical professionals who are treating the same patient, running only the required medical tests, and working with the patient’s family to obtain more information. If not already involved, doctors will often engage a psychiatrist or psychologist into this process, particularly when they cannot find a physical reason for their patient’s symptoms.

Continue reading to learn how doctors treat factitious disorder once it has been diagnosed.