Case Reports in Psychiatry (Jan 2017)

Pseudologia Fantastica in the Emergency Department: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

  • Robyn Thom,
  • Polina Teslyar,
  • Rohn Friedman

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8961256
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2017

Abstract

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Psychiatrists commonly encounter deception in the emergency department. This article presents the case of a patient who presents to the emergency department with an unusual and elaborate web of deceptions along multiple themes including feigning medical illness, multiple losses, and grandiose academic and athletic achievements. We review the clinical characteristics of pseudologia fantastica and discuss how this patient’s constellation of malingering, factitious disorder, and personality disorder suggests this diagnosis.