What is Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy?
MSBP is defined as a mental health problem in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury in a person under his or her care, such as a child, an elderly adult, or a person who has a disability.
The aim of the person with MSBP appears to be to obtain attention, sympathy and in some cases, money. A parent with MSBP can cause their children to come physically close to death, or to actually die.
How is a Parent with MSBP Similar to a Parent with NPD?
Narcissistic Personality Disorder can be likened to Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy but with the difference that people with MSBP cause physical illness in others and people with NPD cause ‘mental illness’ in others. The similarity is in the intentional harming of a vulnerable other to meet their own needs.
A parent with NPD will cause incredible mental stress in their children which can lead to the creation of personality disorders, addictions, suicidal ideation, panic disorders, depression, anxiety and Complex PTSD among other conditions.
The behaviours of parents with NPD can cause their children to feel suicidal, to attempt suicide or to commit a ‘slow suicide’ in terms of self-destructive behaviours like drug and alcohol addictions.
Children from parents with MSBP are also left with these psychological consequences in adulthood as well as a lot of physical damage if they survive.
Common Behaviours
A parent with MSBP will gain attention from their child’s physical illness. A parent with NPD will use the stressed (traumatised) behaviours of their child against them and will often tell other people in the family or outside of the family that their child has ‘mental health problems’ whilst feigning sympathy.
Parents with NPD will often play their child’s problems for sympathy and portray themselves as the hapless victims of circumstance when they are largely (if not solely) responsible for their child’s mental ‘ill health’ (or rather - their child’s behavioural adaptations to their living circumstances).
There is victimisation of all of their children at different times but most specifically and consistently of their ‘scapegoat’ children. These are the children onto whom they project all their negative feelings and choose to blame for everything that they feel is wrong as people with NPD avoid taking personal responsibility for anything. The scapegoat child may be the child who suffers most obviously.
There is a lot of psychological pressure for the children of MSBP and NPD parents to buy into their parents’ version of reality. The version of reality provided for them is ever changing from moment to moment which makes actual reality something intangible and difficult to make sense of. If a child does not buy into their MSBP/NPD parent’s version of reality, there are serious consequences.
People with MSBP and NPD lie and exaggerate, are very manipulative and are emotionally unstable.
A child of someone with MSBP has to or does believe that they are ill physically and a scapegoat child of someone with NPD will often believe that they are crazy, mentally unstable and that there is something wrong with them. They will often repeatedly be told this by their parent.
Both disorders have a sadistic/masochistic aspect.
Munchausen’s Syndrome and NPD
According to the NHS’s (National Health Service) UK website - Munchausen’s Syndrome (which is causing illness to oneself) can be seen in the following 3 Cluster B personality disorders:
“Different personality disorders thought to be linked with Munchausen’s syndrome include:
antisocial personality disorder - where a person may take pleasure in manipulating and deceiving doctors, giving them a sense of power and control
borderline personality disorder - where a person struggles to control their feelings and often swings between positive and negative views of others
narcissistic personality disorder - where a person often swings between seeing themselves as special and fearing they’re worthless
It could be that the person has an unstable sense of their own identity and also has difficulty forming meaningful relationships with others. Playing the “sick role” allows them to adopt an identity that brings support and acceptance from others with it.”
Childhood Roots
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is thought to have its roots in childhood abuse/trauma.
childrenofnarcissists.org.uk/...
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: An Alarming Face of Child Abuse
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
NHS Overview of Munchausen’s Syndrome
www.nhs.uk/mental-health/cond...
MSBP Overview - University of Michigan
www.uofmhealth.org/health-lib...
Theories of Causes of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
childrenofnarcissists.org.uk/...
Children of Narcissists
childrenofnarcissists.org.uk/