The Munchausen Syndrome

CEBU, Philippines - Now that the NapoList is coming out, many more are being implicated in the pork barrel scam. And many of them, if not all, are likely to be making a mad dash to their doctors. This is called Malingering – or the Munchausen Syndrome.

Jinggoy Estrada sought medical help for hemorrhoids in 2002, and Gloria Arroyo for a spinal disease, when both were facing detention for various charges. Joseph Estrada and Jocjoc Bolante (former DAR Undersecretary) had taken to the wheelchair too, because of “poor health or being in a state of chronic debilitating illness.”

It seems that professional medical help becomes a top priority when public officials are asked to squarely face issues of national interest where they are implicated, often involving hard-earned taxpayers’ money. The question is: Are these people simply feigning illness, or are their ailments actually for real? 

The tendency to feign ailment is called Munchausen syndrome. It is a mental disorder, according to MedicineNet.com, the result of a combination of biological vulnerabilities, ways of thinking, and social stressors like being ostracized. Stress levels heighten as triggered by either low or excessively high self-esteem, perhaps in an attempt to save a face, or put on a face.

Depression and anxiety, after being exposed to public scrutiny, are to be factored in too, when immune system is compromised due to stress. Thus, an illness like that of Arroyo’s develops to become a serious condition, labeled as “irreversible and progressive,” when at the start it was believed to be a mere attempt at seeking hospital arrest or a tactic to defer court trial.

The disorder was named after Baron Karl Friedrich von Munchausen, a German. He lived from 1720 to 1797. He joined the Russian military and was known to tell fantastic tales about the battles he participated in against the Ottoman Turks. Some of these stories were of “riding cannonballs and traveling to the moon.”

Sufferers of the Munchausen syndrome pretend to have physical or psychological symptoms of an ailment. “It is thought to be motivated only by a desire to be seen as ill rather than by avoiding responsibility, financial gain, improving his or her physical condition, or some other benefit, as is true in malingering,” MedicineNet.com pointed out.

Meanwhile, Malingering is fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental or physical disorders. In the pork barrel scam case, for example, the motive is obviously to avoid examination or questioning, or getting lighter punishment for the crime committed. Being in a state of “deteriorating health,” attracts sympathy. For those under the public scrutiny, sympathy really helps.

Jinggoy Estrada could slip into it again, this time from being implicated in the pork barrel scam. In fact, he had already sought knee treatment abroad for an injury reportedly from a basketball game. It’s interesting to see if the others in the NapoList will follow. (FREEMAN)