Münchhausen syndrome: a mother judged for having imposed destructive treatments on her children

It’s hard to believe that a parent could intentionally make their child sick. However, this is what happened in Ariège where two parents have just been tried by the Foix court. An abusive mother, an accomplice father and godfather made two teenagers go through hell.

Heavy treatments that have been unnecessary for years

According to the media 20 Minutes, from 2010, when her boys were young (less than a year and 4 years old), the mother consulted doctors on numerous occasions, for various reasons: initially due to allergies, then for joint pain and fever. Despite completely normal health checks, the mother managed to get her sons prescribed heavy medication, a corset and even a wheelchair.

In 2020 alone, the two children of the defendants, now aged 18 and 14, were placed with Child Welfare (ASE). It is on this date, as soon as they are placed, that the heavy treatments are stopped.

For these acts perceived as abuse, this mother is today accused of violence against her children resulting in six and twelve months of ITT. She is also accused of forgery and use of forgery. The father is, for his part, tried for not having informed the authorities. The godfather for complicity.

Münchhausen syndrome by proxy, a destructive illness

According to psychiatric reports, this mother also suffered from an illness called “Münchhausen syndrome by proxy” in which a parent invents and produces the symptoms of a disorder in their child. A disorder fortunately rare but which can cause suffer several people

For a similar case, the psychiatrist Mahieu Bellahsen already explained to us: “These are generally cases of children who have illnesses that cannot be explained, which trigger diabetes for example, even though their pancreas is doing very well. We then realize that those around us are voluntarily giving insulin to the child.”

A profile that can have three causes

But why do these parents invent an illness or disorder in their children? The expert recalled three reasons:

• On the psychological side, this can be a conscious act but does not always reflect a desire to cause harm. Sometimes it’s an unconscious desire to be cared for yourself. And how can you be treated when you are in denial? By creating problems for a loved one so that they can be treated in your place.
• On the psychiatric side, this can also be linked to a personality disorder, a person psychopath who consciously makes another suffer to attract attention, or to take revenge on a loved one. This is something that can also be encountered in older people.
• Finally, it can also be a psychotic profile of a person who is not in reality. As such, she can be convinced that her child is sick. But it is the remedy she administers to him that actually makes him ill. This is then a delusional element.

Is support possible?

For the expert, it depends on the person we are dealing with: in the case of intentional endangerment, they are aware of their actions, and are therefore responsible. She must then answer for her actions before the courts. This is what is happening today during this trial in Foix.

If, on the contrary, the person is delirious and is convinced that their child is sick, we must work on the cause. What are the misfortunes that could have generated this state and this requires treatment. “Very often, people do to others what has been done to them, the parent may have been mistreated.” he recalled.

The conclusions on this Ariège affair will be delivered on January 7.