Looking Toward DSM–V: Should Factitious Disorder Become a Subtype of Somatoform Disorder?

BackgroundFactitious and somatoform-disorder patients are alike in that they both organize their lives around seeking medical services in spite of having primarily a psychiatric condition. In DSM–IV, the key difference is that factitious-disorder patients feign illness, and somatoformdisorder patients actually believe they are ill. Although patients may not be conscious of their motivation or even their behaviors, deliberately embellishing history or inducing symptoms exemplifies behaviors designed to enhance a self-concept of being ill.ConclusionFor DSM–V, we propose reclassifying factitious disorder as a subtype within the somatoform-spectrum disorders or the proposed physical-symptom disorder, premised on our belief that deliberate deceptions serve primarily to portray to treaters the sense of being ill.