Munchausen syndrome
noun Psychiatry.
a factitious disorder in which otherwise healthy individuals seek to hospitalize themselves with feigned or self-induced pathology in order to receive surgical or other medical treatment.
Origin of Munchausen syndrome
1950–55; named after Baron von
Münchhausen, whose fictionalized accounts of his own experiences suggest symptoms of the disorder
Medical definitions for munchausen syndrome
Munchausen syndrome
n.
A psychological disorder characterized by the repeated fabrication of disease symptoms for the purpose of gaining medical attention.