PSYCH 128: Factitious Disorder

Clinical Deep Dives · Sep 20, 2026 · 45m

At first, the cases look extraordinary.

A patient presents with recurrent sepsis caused by unusual organisms. Another has persistent wounds that never heal. Another reports repeated seizures that vanish under observation. One produces dramatic laboratory abnormalities. Another travels from hospital to hospital under changing identities. In a paediatric ward, a child appears inexplicably ill whenever one caregiver is present.

Holmes immediately recognises the central diagnostic requirement:

There must be evidence of deception.

Factitious disorder involves falsifying, inducing, exaggerating, or…