Malingering- Definition

‘Malingering’ definition includes all instances of feigning illness or disease for gaining attention or for some other gains.
Though most people malinger out of habit without having any ulterior motives, it may be used as an excuse to justify misdoings or gain popularity.

My interest in malingering & people who malinger arose when I  read last week about a Columbian mother of a 4 week old child who, according to her, was exorcised. She said that the child had several abnormalities. Topping the list was the fact that he was walking around the home already. (I thanked my stars that I started walking after I was a year old!!). She also said that the child has ‘intimidating’ eyes, laughs like an adult and causes burn marks wherever he sits. This set me read more about this factitious disorder and I want to share whatever I learnt with my readers here.

In this case, the mother is probably looking for some publicity. Cases have however been reported where people would inflict burns, cuts and wounds on themselves or their kids just to hog limelight.

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Malingering causes

The basic underlying cause of malingering- whenever someone resorts to it- is to contribute to some hidden agenda.

More often than not, people suffering from such disorders or problems do it for the following reasons:
• To gain attention
• To gain sympathy
• To evade/ shirk work
• To get lighter criminal sentences
• To get better compensation

Malingering symptoms

People who malinger usually produce false or fabricated ‘evidences’ to substantiate their claims.
The person affected by this factitious disorder starts behaving in any of the following manners:
• Exaggerating claims about an illness that actually exists
• Claiming to suffer from an illness that does not exist at all
• Inflicting an injury or signs of suffering from a serious problem upon self or others
A child pretending to be ill so that he can miss school is a classic case of malingering. He might pretend to have a terrible pain in the tummy so that he does not have to study for the test next day.
A friend of mine who has long working hours has a son who would dip a thermometer in hot water to ‘prove’ that he had fever so that she would absent herself from work and spend time with him.
A malinger husband might feign a headache when wifey asks him to accompany her for shopping or babysit at home.
As does a person who adds sugar to his urine sample to test positive for diabetes.
An employee at work claiming to suffer from high fever or colic so that he can absent himself from work and watch the finals of his football match also falls under malingering.
Now while these instances have no serious implications, people who malinger might not always be so harmless.
A serial killer once pleaded for mercy saying he did so under the ‘influence’ of a dog!
People have used malingering to evade compulsory military duties or serving sentences in prison.
Some people also claim to be suffering from factitious illnesses just to claim compensation from insurance companies or their employers.
There are others who do it out of sheer habit- because they seem to revel in the sympathy and attention they get if they feign an illness.
Many a times, people malinger and then start faking illness to get away with what would otherwise have been unacceptable.

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Faking illness or actually ill?

While you might suspect that your employee, child, spouse, boss, neighbor of friend malingers, you might want to know for sure whether the disease/ ailment/ illness actually exists or is he/ she simply faking illness?

How would you go about that?
Well, now that is not an easy task.
In most instances, it is difficult to get the malingering person to agree to visit a doctor. Even if they do eventually agree, it is not ALWAYS easy for the doctor to pinpoint a malinger. The doctors might have to use certain tricks or act smart to be able to tell whether the person brought to him is actually suffering from this mental disorder.

Care should be taken not to mistake the symptoms of malingering with those of Munchausen syndrome, schizophrenia or hypochondria.
After reading this, I hope you’ll be able to know better whether your husband is faking illness just to escape the dishes after the dinner or know the truth about a child who malingers.
Please share with us instances of people who, according to you, suffer from a factitious disorder.