A 15 year old girl is presented with subcutaneous emphysema of both arms, neck and thorax which found to be self-induced. The differential diagnosis of subcutaneous emphysema is discussed with especial emphasis on factitious emphysema and the importance of diagnosis. 

Dissociative disorders (DD) are described and defined both in the diagnostic system of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM IV-R) and in the World Health Organization (ICD 10). Regarding the particular case of cognitive processes related to memory, it is possible that memories are not integrated properly, resulting in a condition called "dissociative amnesia" (DA). This illness has been de...

Mistaking psychogenic nonepileptic paroxysmal episodes (PNEPEs) for epileptic seizures (ES) is potentially dangerous, and certain features should alert physicians to a possible PNEPE diagnosis. Psychogenic nonepileptic paroxysmal episodes due to factitious seizures carry particularly high risks of morbidity or mortality from nonindicated emergency treatment and, often, high costs in wasted medi...

We report a 43-year-old woman with early-onset Parkinson's disease in whom neurological control was impaired by psychiatric co-morbidity including major depression and panic disorder. The patient also met criteria for factitious disorder that mimicked dopamine dysregulation syndrome resulting in severe clinical and social disability.

In neuropsychological practice, individuals often present with evidence of excessive cognitive complaints or invalid test performances indicative of symptom exaggeration; however, clinicians often struggle with how to diagnose these cases once they have been identified. Difficulties in subsuming these individuals within existing DSM-IV diagnoses such as Malingering, Factitious Disorder, and Con...

The paper by Delis and Wetter (2007) promises to have a major impact on clinical diagnostic practice and perhaps on research. As they point out, clinicians may not feel that sub-optimal effort on neuropsychological testing is synonymous with malingering or factitious disorder. The existing DSM-IV diagnostic system does not provide an adequate means of classification for examinees with sub-optim...

The purpose of this article is to propose guidelines for the evaluation of possible Munchausen by proxy child abuse for the court systems. These assessments require the evaluator to have an understanding of the complexity involved when this type of abuse is alleged. The evaluator should have an appreciation of how falsification of illness may or may not occur, recognize the need for careful ana...