- Munchausen by proxy is a mental illness characterized by a caretaker who makes someone sick on purpose.
- Also known as factitious disorder imposed on another, it's most common in women with young children.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been celebrating her first week of freedom after being released from prison last Thursday.
Blanchard, 32, was released on parole after serving 8 years for the second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard in 2015. At the time, she said that she had asked her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mother after claiming to suffer years of abuse at her hands.
The type of abuse that Blanchard said she suffered was unusual: her mother was believed to have a condition called Munchausen by proxy, which led her to force Blanchard into unneeded medical treatments, including using a wheelchair and getting two salivary glands removed, Blanchard told People.
What to know about Munchausen by proxy
Munchausen by proxy is a rare mental illness, according to the National Library of Medicine, and is also a form of child abuse. It occurs when a child's caretaker — often the mother of a young child — makes up fake symptoms of illness. In severe cases, a caretaker can even cause a child to be sick on purpose so they show symptoms of illness.
These days, the condition is officially known by another name: factitious disorder imposed on another, or FDIA.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, caregivers who have this illness aren't making their children sick for financial gain; rather they often want the sympathy and special attention given to people who are sick and their families.
The symptoms of Munchausen by proxy
According to the National Library of Medicine, the signs that a caregiver may have Munchausen by proxy include:
They are either a mother with a young child or an adult child who takes care of an elderly parent.
They can describe their child's symptoms in great detail and may have a healthcare background.
They seem extremely devoted to their children and are very involved in their medical care.
The signs that a child may be a victim of Munchausen by proxy include:
The child sees a lot of doctors, is in the hospital a lot, and has had a lot of medical procedures.
The child has strange symptoms that don't fit with any disease and don't match test results.
The child's symptoms are reported by the caretaker but not seen directly by doctors.
Blood or chemicals are seen in the child's urine, stool, or other fluids.
Treatments for Munchausen by proxy
The main — and most urgent — treatment for Munchausen by proxy is removing the child from the caretaker who is making them ill.
After that, the child may need medical treatment to correct any complications from unnecessary medical procedures or tests they underwent. They also may need therapy to help them recover.
How common is Munchausen by proxy?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, there are no reliable statistics on the number of people with Munchausen by proxy in the US. But estimates suggest that about 1,000 of the 2.5 million cases of child abuse reported yearly are related to the disease.
There have also been notable cases of women accused of having Munchausen by proxy and harming their children when that was not the case.
One example is Beata Kowalski, who was wrongly accused of having Munchausen by proxy and abusing her daughter, Maya Kowalski, who actually had a rare pain disorder. Beata died by suicide after the allegations, and the family was recently awarded $211 million in damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit.