What is Munchausen Syndrome?

Munchausen Syndrome, also known as hospital addiction, factitious illness, afflicting those referred to as professional patients, is a repeated fabrication of clinically convincing simulations of disease for the purpose of gaining medical attention. It refers to patients who wander from hospital to hospital feigning acute medical or surgical illness and giving false and fanciful information about their medical and social background for no apparent reason other than to gain attention. The cause is unclear, prognosis poor and treatment often unsuccessful in these psychiatric patients.