Management of factitious disorders: A systematic review

Eastwood, Sarah and Bisson, Jonathan Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5170-1243 2008. Management of factitious disorders: A systematic review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 77 (4) , pp. 209-218. 10.1159/000126072

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The literature regarding the management of factitious disorder (FD) is diverse and generally of case reports or case series. To date there has been no systematic review of the effectiveness of management techniques. METHODS: Systematic review of all evidence reporting the management and subsequent outcome in FD. Data were extracted and outcomes were assessed using an adaptation of the Global Improvement Scale. Results were analysed by parametric statistical tests; a meta-analysis was not possible. RESULTS: Thirty-two case reports and 13 case series were eligible for inclusion. Analysis of the case reports found no significant difference in outcomes between confrontational and non-confrontational approaches [t(29) = 0.72, p = 0.48], between treatment with psychotherapy compared to no psychotherapy [t(30) = 0.69, p = 0.48], and when psychiatric medication had been prescribed compared with not [t(30) = 0.35, p = 0.73]. A trend was observed that a longer length of treatment lead to better outcomes, but this was not significant [F(5, 26) = 1.17, p = 0.35]. The consecutive case series demonstrated that many FD sufferers were not engaged in treatment and were lost to follow-up but did not provide any strong evidence regarding the effectiveness of different management approaches. CONCLUSIONS: There is an absence of sufficient robust research to determine the effectiveness of any management technique for FD. The establishment of a central reporting register to facilitate the development of evidence-based guidelines is recommended.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher:	Karger
ISSN:	1423-0348
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2022 09:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/82224

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