If you ever get bored by having a short name, consider the name of Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720–1797), who was notorious for his many tall tales about his adventures back in the 18th century. The version by Rudolf Erich Raspe in English translation is available free from Google books.
Some mentally ill people suffer from a syndrome named after the famous baron: Münchhausen Syndrome (sometimes spelled with just one h as Münchausen Syndrome). The Mayo Clinic’s extensive reference on diseases and conditions has a 10-page entry for “Munchausen syndrome” that starts with a definition: “Munchausen (MOON-chow-zun) syndrome is a serious mental disorder in which someone with a deep need for attention pretends to be sick or gets sick or injured on purpose. People with Munchausen syndrome may make up symptoms, push for risky operations, or try to rig laboratory test results to try to win sympathy and concern.”
A related illness is called Münchhausen Syndrome by Proxy; in this sad disorder, an adult (usually a parent) abuses a child to gain attention for herself or himself. Emergency room physicians are always on guard for such cases when a child is repeatedly brought to the hospital with different traumas or illnesses.
A recent development along these lines that may concern tech-savvy readers is a similar disorder that some specialists are calling “Münchhausen Syndrome by Internet.” Some disturbed people have been found to lie about their real or even nonexistent illnesses, apparently to obtain attention and psychological support from well-meaning participants in mental-health or illness-related support groups online. A well-written report by Jenny Kleeman in the Guardian newspaper provides case studies and interviews with perpetrators and victims of this kind of deception. Here are some quick summaries of much more extensive reporting:
• Someone calling herself Mandy Wilson from Australia reached out through the Connected Moms Website and received floods of emotional support when she (a) fell ill with leukemia; (b) was abandoned by her husband; (c) was forced to raise her two children alone; (d) went into a coma for weeks after a stroke; and (e) was physically abused by nurses at the hospital. Her local friends Gemma, Sophie, Pete and Janet posted to Connected Moms while Mandy was unavailable. A kind Canadian woman, Dawn Mitchell, spent hours a day communicating with Mandy Wilson to provide support through three years of painful and emotionally draining messages. It was all lie: Wilson wasn’t sick and her friends didn’t exist.LiveJournal site to gain emotional support. At one point, she has reported to have died, and there was even an entry on a MySpace page announcing her demise.addicted to the outpouring of support: Kleeman writes, “She’d spend 15-20 hours online a day, answering the 50 or so emails that arrived from concerned well-wishers, and ultimately invented five different characters to embellish and sustain the deception if attention moved away from her.” After seven months of deception, “It dawned on me I was playing with people’s emotions. I started feeling guilty.” She told the truth and, even two years later, “Jeanette often gets messages from group members telling her they’re still devastated by what she did to them.”Mumsnet about the death of her daughter was discovered “to have logged on using multiple identities, each with their own traumatic tale.”
• Someone claiming to be an 18-year-old immigrant in London, England suffering from tuberculosis used a forum on the
• A 24-year-old woman from the Philippines, Jeanette Navarro, really was sick, but at one point she pretended to be someone else on an online support group and reported that she, Jeanette, was in a coma. From that point on, she became
• A mother posting on
As Kleeman points out, these deceptions can damage the support of communities of people who have been tricked, as well as causing emotional suffering for the victims who may have gone out of their way to provide extensive support for the deceivers. Some groups have been disrupted by waves of suspicion and some have even shut down as a result of the turmoil resulting from the fraud.
It’s difficult to see how to prevent mentally ill people or criminals from adopting false personae online. In several of the cases discussed by Jenny Kleeman, the Münchhausen Syndrome sufferers were discovered because of inconsistencies that they couldn’t prevent in their complex web of lies.
It may not be much solace for those deceived, but perhaps a reference to Jewish tradition might help put the deception into perspective. One of the traditions of Judaism is that no one asking for alms can be ignored, regardless of whether we think they are being deceptive. When beggars ask for money, I always stop, look them in the eye to show that I recognize them as a fellow human being, give them what I can, and wish them well. To critics who have pointed out that some of these street people are likely alcoholics or drug addicts who may use my donation to make their own situation worse, I have always responded that anyone begging on the street is by definition in trouble, whether because of misfortune or a life of deceit. In either case, simple humanity – supported by my Jewish traditions – require me to do what I can.
Those honest people who have reached out to a victim of Münchhausen Syndrome by Internet have done a mitzvah (an obligation); even if they were tricked, they can feel that their expression of humanity was a good thing to do.
Readers interested in learning more about different aspects of anonymity and pseudonymity on the Internet will find a chapter on the subject on my Website.
