I read the Warrior Eli is a hoax blog, which has expanded to internet hoaxers faking illness, it's absolutely terrifying. It's a great read.

Some people are doing it for the attention, creating and managing 80 fake personas to give the character a "family".

One of the most despicable ones was an Aunt who was collecting money for her (legitimately) sick niece, but was pocketing the money herself without the Mom's knowledge.

Need_MindBleach: Don't be angry that it's being pushed as a diagnosable disorder. Narcissism and psychopathy are diagnosable disorders, which, as the article states, are the two deviant personality types Munchausen most resembles.

What's the deal with everyone comparing or relating Munchausen's to antisocial personality disorder? Sure, it's possible, but do you really think that most antisocial people or psychopaths care immensely about other people's emotional support and validation? If there is money or more concrete gains to be made from feigning illness, then sure... Btw, you overlooked borderline personality disorder (looking for someone unstable enough to forcibly make themselves sick for the promise of attachment?) and histrionic personality disorder (one more likely than a narcissist to debase oneself for attention).

As intriguing as personality disorders are, their demarcations aren't that clear and often a person has multiple disorders. Maybe that's why psychiatrists and psychologists diagnose Munchausens separately.

Researcher: I guess the point is this, the reason people care about Munchhausen by Proxy...

The reason people care about Munchausens is that many of those people live in the hospital or try to seek medical attention constantly. Firstly where I've worked you pretty much can't bill for your medical services without a diagnosis. Secondly, patients deserve a diagnosis even if the diagnosis is that they are sick in the head. Maybe at some point a person like that can get effective treatment for their mental illness. I agree that Munchausens by Proxy is particularly sad and requires speedy intervention.

elysive: Need_MindBleach: Don't be angry that it's being pushed as a diagnosable disorder. Narcissism and psychopathy are diagnosable disorders, which, as the article states, are the two deviant personality types Munchausen most resembles.

Researcher: I guess the point is this, the reason people care about Munchhausen by Proxy...


Sorry I guess I thought people were debating the validity of the original Munchausen's diagnosis, not the "by Internet" variety. Internet cases probably do have more sadistic and narcissistic traits than the irl people since they don't actually have to physically debase themselves to get attention. I suppose researchers they should just come up with a diagnosis for "Internet Troll" and that should cover all the online dicks.

A good friend's friend was outed some years ago in a hoax where she claimed that someone had set her cat on fire (and was taking donations for its veterinary care). All a lie. They're still friends, which I find hard to wrap my head around.

ArmoredFelix: Only if people bit. The average netizen truly doesn't give a fark about such a farktarded story as this. "Oh watch out, anonymous people might not be telling the truth." fark this writer, fark her cancer, fark her crybaby shiat. My mother has been dying of cancer for 8 years, at least she doesn't cry about it.

4/10