Imagine a mother who is so overprotective that she feels an irresistible need to make her child dependent on her help. It goes as far as to consciously poison them and thus never allow them to recover completely. Sounds unbelievable? Yet such cases do exist. They are referred to as the transferred MĂĽnchausen syndrome. We explain exactly what this disorder is about.
Terms used in 1951
It was then that the term MĂĽnchausen was used for the first time, which refers to the name of Baron von MĂĽnchausen. This German officer, who lived in the 18th century, made up for various illnesses in a pathological way, as long as he met with sympathy from other people. In 1977 a new term appeared – the transferred band MĂĽnchausen.
People suffering from this mental disorder are very satisfied when others consider it indispensable to care for someone who is ill. In the vast majority of cases, this pathology is presented by mothers who deliberately force their children into illnesses. Thanks to this, they can constantly take care of them and gain praise for their heroism.
It is worth knowing
MĂĽnchausen’s syndrome is also referred to as a transferred syndrome if an adult is also subject to abuse.
Contrary to appearances, overprotection does not result from great love. In fact, people suffering from this disorder may even hate their clients. It is a sick pleasure for them to know that a child or an adult cannot recover and must rely solely on the grace of their caregiver.
The cat-victim relationship
The transferred MĂĽnchausen unit has different phases. In the most gentle of cases, a mother simply notoriously invents diseases in her child, forcing doctors to prescribe different drugs or to implement therapies that cause pain and danger to the child. Such a disorder can be easily overlooked, because we simply associate it with overprotection.
In the more advanced stages of disorders, we are already dealing with the deliberate administration of poisons or drugs to the patient to cause certain symptoms of disease. The person suffering from the transferred MĂĽnchausen syndrome is not aware that he is doing the wrong thing. What counts for her is only to remain in the centre of attention and gain praise from her surroundings.
Treatment of the disorder
The transferred MĂĽnchausen syndrome is very difficult to diagnose, because its symptoms are not clear for most of us. It is a serious mental illness that requires constant psychiatric treatment and psychological support. It is also necessary to isolate the mother from her child. Unfortunately, the treatment does not guarantee full success. As a rule, an ill mother can never take care of herself again.
Transferred Münchausen syndrome what is a disturbance
