People are considered afflicted with Munchausen syndrome when they tend to manifest psychological disorders accompanied by illness or trauma. It is an artificial psychiatric condition wherein affected people fake their own disease to get attention, sympathy from people around them and reassuring themselves often. It is sometimes called "hospital addiction, thick chart or hospital hopper syndrome". There is treatment for Munchausen syndrome, a condition often indicated with repeated hospitalization due to some illnesses. It is also seen in people who tend to go on travel.

The condition reflects the person's exaggeration or creation of severe symptoms of ailments to acquire remedies, interviews, sympathy and comfort. Actually, the main objective of a person with this sickness is to gain attention in any form. Some cases of this ailment are those people with knowledge on medical practice and are those able to make symptoms that may result to expensive and prolonged study thus longer hospital stays and getting unnecessary operations and procedures.

They can go extra miles such as taking medication unnecessarily so that they have side effects. They can even cut themselves to have injury. They can even pretend to have shortness of breath just so that they are attended to. It is amazing that none of the people suffering from this disorder would agree they are faking it. Even so, there is help for them. There is treatment they can turn to.

What causes the syndrome is unknown. However, there seems to be some risk factors associated to it. Some of these include: poor self confidence; experiencing prolonged illness during childhood and suffering from a personality disorder.

Unfortunately, it may take some time to narrow down the disorder. But, it is common for people with the disorder to hop from one hospital to the other sometimes even in different cities to get treatment. Those who have some medical knowledge about medical conditions would develop other problems when they test negative for what they initially faked.

People with the syndrome should seek professional help and guidance to get them out of the situation. Concerns and issues from their childhood days or confidence in oneself will have to be considered and addressed. In this case, it is the behavior of the patient is shown.

Anxiety, depression and personality disorder are most common problems seen in people with Munchausen. In cases like these, the patient is given special medications like antidepressants to avoid other mental disorders.

Usually people afflicted by this ailment experience increased number of relapses. It is very important that these people attend regular counselling sessions and that regular intake of medications are not be disregarded. Follow-ups with a medical practitioner are to be done.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that people with this disorder can get serious self injuries. Therefore, it is important to recommend treatment for Munchausen syndrome to any patient soon enough. A psychiatric hospital is the best place to refer such people.