Medical staff would 'lather me up and run a new plastic Bic between my barely-there breasts.

'The part I hated most was the shaving,' writes Gregory, who believes that MBP is simply a form of abuse, not a psychological disorder.

Sickened, by Julie Gregory, a victim of Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, or MBP, is a harrowing but compelling account of the way her mother stole her childhood by making her into a sickly child always on the brink of a health crisis. In extreme cases the mother will put her child through unnecessary and life-threatening surgery so she can thrive in the role of an all-giving, all-caring parent. She may even induce illness or fake test results in her pursuit of doctors' attention and nurturance. Over time she repeatedly fabricates symptoms of illness in her son or daughter - mental, physical or both - bringing the child to doctor after doctor to seek diagnoses for conditions that she invents. That other person is usually a child and the perpetrator its principal caretaker, almost always the mother. Munchausen's syndrome by proxy is regarded by doctors as a mental disorder in which a person looks for attention through another person. A book published this week throws light on a much lesser-known, more insidious and also potentially lethal form of child abuse, one that usually remains hidden from view. Sometimes, however, the danger comes from within. A new account of growing up the victim of Munchausen's syndrome by proxy is harrowing reading, writes Sylvia Thompson.Ĭases such as that of Ian Huntley, the caretaker who murdered the English schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, reinforce our fear of strangers and of the dangers outside our warm, nurturing homes.

Sickened by julie gregory