Factitious Disorder - Treatment

Treatment

No true psychiatric medications are prescribed for factitious disorder. However, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can help manage underlying problems. Medicines such as SSRIs that are used to treat mood disorders can be used to treat FD, as a mood disorder may be the underlying cause of FD. Some authors (such as Prior and Gordon 1997) also report good responses to antipsychotic drugs such as Pimozide. Family therapy can also prove to be of assistance. In such therapy, families are helped to better understand patients (the individual in the family with FD) and that person's need for attention. In this therapeutic setting, the family is urged not to condone or reward the FD individual's behavior. This form of treatment can be unsuccessful if the family is uncooperative or displays signs of denial and/or antisocial disorder. Psychotherapy is another method used to treat the disorder. These sessions should focus on the psychiatrist's establishing and maintaining a relationship with the patient. Such a relationship may help to contain symptoms of FD. Monitoring is also a form that may be indicated for the FD patient's own good; FD (especially proxy) can prove to be very detrimental to an individual's health—if they are, in fact, causing true physiological illnesses. Even faked illnesses/injuries can be dangerous and might be monitored for fear that unnecessary surgery may subsequently be performed.