About Excessive Illness Behavior
Behavioral Medicine Consulting, LLC. specializes in clinical and legal issues related to excessive illness behavior.
Illness behavior is a term used to capture the complex psychological dimensions that affect how people think, feel, behave, and interact with others when they experience disease or an injury. Illness behaviors are generally adaptive. They include things like rest, withdrawing from others to prevent the spread of disease, and coordinating with family and others about illness related changes in one's ability to carry out their responsibilities.
Excessive illness behavior refers to thoughts, feelings, behaviors and social interactions that go beyond what is necessary to restore or maintain health. It includes unproductive obsessions with illness and medical care, irrational fears or depression in response to disease or injury, exaggerated disability, excessive and unnecessary health care seeking, or the use of illness behavior to control social relations. The specific situations or conditions that are dominated by excessive illness behavior include:
Excessive illness behavior by proxy refers to situations in which a caregiver for a child, disabled adult, or dependent older person engages in excessive illness behavior related to real or imagined medical or psychological problems in the person under their care. The specific situations or conditions that are dominated by excessive illness behavior by proxy include:
Illness behavior is a term used to capture the complex psychological dimensions that affect how people think, feel, behave, and interact with others when they experience disease or an injury. Illness behaviors are generally adaptive. They include things like rest, withdrawing from others to prevent the spread of disease, and coordinating with family and others about illness related changes in one's ability to carry out their responsibilities.
Excessive illness behavior refers to thoughts, feelings, behaviors and social interactions that go beyond what is necessary to restore or maintain health. It includes unproductive obsessions with illness and medical care, irrational fears or depression in response to disease or injury, exaggerated disability, excessive and unnecessary health care seeking, or the use of illness behavior to control social relations. The specific situations or conditions that are dominated by excessive illness behavior include:
- Factitious Disorder Imposed on the Self (previously called Factitious Disorder, Münchausen's Syndrome)
- Malingering
- Illness Anxiety Disorder (previously called Hypochondriasis)
- Somatic Symptom Disorder (previously call Somatization Disorder)
- Conversion disorder
Excessive illness behavior by proxy refers to situations in which a caregiver for a child, disabled adult, or dependent older person engages in excessive illness behavior related to real or imagined medical or psychological problems in the person under their care. The specific situations or conditions that are dominated by excessive illness behavior by proxy include:
- Factitious disorder Imposed on Another (also called Münchausen syndrome by proxy, Caregiver Fabricated illness, Fabricated or Induced Illness, Medical Child Abuse)
- Malingering by Proxy
- Illness Anxiety Disorder by Proxy