Eng Sim Leng, Neo Hui Ling Michelle, Chang Cheryl Wai Leng
Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Sep 9;16:1649205. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1649205. eCollection 2025.
Factitious Disorder is clinically challenging to diagnose owing to its reliance on unequivocal evidence of deception. The nature of the disorder and lack of definitive treatment may limit utilisation of mental health legislation, despite its potential fatality. Here, we report a case of a young lady with recurrent, unexplained and life-threatening episodes of iron-deficiency anaemia. Lack of reliable informant to clarify suspicion of Factitious Disorder as well as overshadowing of legal and ethical dilemmas further complicate the clinical management. An involuntary admission, as a last resort, had assisted to solidify the diagnosis of factitious disorder and enforced necessary therapeutic interventions. This Case Report is the first report to highlight the exceptional use of involuntary admission involving a patient with life-threatening factitious anaemia, in Singapore context. It sets the precedence for the exceptional application of the MHCTA outside of gazetted institutions in Singapore, in context of probable severe factitious anaemia.
由于虚构障碍依赖明确的欺骗证据,因此在临床上诊断具有挑战性。尽管该障碍可能致命,但由于其性质以及缺乏明确的治疗方法,可能会限制心理健康立法的使用。在此,我们报告一例年轻女性反复出现原因不明且危及生命的缺铁性贫血发作的病例。缺乏可靠的信息提供者来澄清对虚构障碍的怀疑以及法律和伦理困境的困扰,进一步使临床管理复杂化。作为最后手段的非自愿入院有助于确诊虚构障碍并实施必要的治疗干预措施。本病例报告是首份强调在新加坡背景下对患有危及生命的虚构性贫血患者进行非自愿入院特殊应用的报告。它为在新加坡可能患有严重虚构性贫血的情况下,在非宪报机构之外特殊应用《精神健康(强制治疗)法》开创了先例。