Scholars' Showcase 2018

The Factitious disorder is a complex disorder whose historical path leads from malingering to hysteria, to Munchhausen Syndrome, and ultimately to its current characterization as Factitious Disorder. Many historical documents trace the different ways that this strange desire to become sick or to be perceived as sick is expressed in medical theory, in literature, and in culture. Particularly interesting are the lengths to which people will go to substantiate these ailments.Among the individuals involved in the definition of this disorder are British psychoanalysts, among whom Karin Stephen (1890-1953), Virginia Woolf’s sister-in-law, played a prominent role.