Factitious Disorder by Proxy - Essay Example

Factitious Disorder by Proxy Name: Institution: Beauty pageant is a concept that was introduced and developed in the 1920s. It involved parading women on the stage to compete and be crowned for their physical attractiveness (Lieberman 2010). This concept was first introduced by B. T. Barnum in his popular circus. This concept was later developed as casino attractions in various cities such as Atlantic City. Further development led to the establishment of Miss America and Miss USA. Child beauty pageants were developed in the 1960s, and they adopted the characteristics of the adult pageants. Child pageants appear on stage wearing sportswear and evening clothes and displaying their talents through dances and songs. The society recognizes the harmful effects of child beauty pageant. This is because beauty pageant inhibits healthy child development (Lieberman 2010). This is the reason why little girls participating in pageants are likely to experience persistent challenges in life such as eating disorders, perfectionism and depression. The Factitious Disorder is a health condition that one deliberately produces psychological or physical symptoms in another person. This condition is done to people to gain sympathy for the person with the disorder. The following essay will discuss the Factitious Disorder by Proxy and its effects on the child beauty pageant contestants and the parents. The discussion will be based on the parents or guardians’ responsibilities of the pageant contestants, the objectives that parents want to achieve and find out whether the parents or guardians are doing their responsibilities because they want it or it is because the children want it. Factitious Disorder is also referred to as Munchausen syndrome. The patients of this disorder pretend to or purposefully produce illness syndrome. People suffering from this behavior have emotional needs, which they unable to communicate to others (Tasman & First 2011). Mostly, the patients suffer from lack of ability of expressing their emotional needs and understanding of their own needs. The lack of expression of the victims leads to their factitious behavior (Parrish & Perman 2004). They try to communicate the need for human warmth and contact through displaying their physical complaints. The patients with the disorder do not want to be patients of psychiatrists, since Psychiatry is viewed as a low status profession. People with the disorder may angrily rebut evidence, cry or even flee hospital, if confronted with evidence of feigning evidence. Parents and guardians of beauty pageants understand that their children have to perform on stage to gain fame. The children are involved in various practice exercises with their coaches. The beauty pageants present themselves on stage while displaying their talent though songs and dances (Merino 2009). The judges are available to check on contestants’ confidence, presence and performance on the stage (Mitchell & Reid-Walsh 2007). The winners receive various awards such as grants, scholarships and trophies. The parents and guardians of the child beauty pageants prepare their children for the performance. The preparation involves paying the high beauty pageant circuit costs. The costs consist of the entry fee, and beauty and maintenance expenses (Lieberman 2010). The entry fee is used to purchase the awards, trophies, and cater for administrative costs, venue preparation and company profits. Parents purchase hair extensions, expensive gowns, fake wigs, and specially made bikini bathing suits. The child pageants require preparation on their dressing and facial looks. Their parents and guardians invest in make-up artists and proficient hair stylists (Merino 2009). Other expenses incurred in preparation include poise coaching, dance lessons, voice training and modeling. These expenses are excessively high, and lead to some families having lots of debt so as to pay the entrance fees of the pageant. The pageantry industry has become a successful business, which brings in money for make-up companies, sponsors of beauty products and the fashion magazines of children. The industry is estimated to be worth about five billion dollars having over five thousand pageant competitions haled every year (Lieberman 2010). Despite the industry being fast growing business in America, there are no regulations that control the operation of the industry. The child beauty pageant circuit involves the idea of perfection and beauty and an emphasis on sexuality. The contestants wear revealing clothing and dances, remove pieces of their costumes and wink at judges (Hales 2008). The young pageant kids are trained to flirt and utilize their growing sexuality to attract the judges and win. On the other hand, the parents and guardians use techniques that alter the appearances of the flaws and imperfections of their girls. Girls are decorated with wigs, false eyelashes, fake teeth and excessive make ups so that they hide their flaws. The parents also use chemicals such as Dihydroxyacetone to obtain tanned skin and others whitening strips (Lieberman 2010). The sexuality of the girls is displayed by the hairstyles, make up, the outfits there are wearing. The child pageants gain popularity on the surface of television and the internet by passing in their performances and beauty (Mitchell & Reid-Walsh 2007). These children suffer from exploitation and being overworked. They train for long hours with their coaches, which violates the child’s right to enjoy her freedom. Despite the condemnation from the society, the pageantry industry continues to grow. In addition, the industry is controlled by individual pageant sponsors due to the lack of government regulations. This makes the pageant coordinators come up with their own rules that favor them to gain profits from the contestants and organizers (Lieberman 2010). Parents and guardians of the child beauty pageants encounter various challenges in hosting their children to participate in the pageants. Some of the challenges include the excessive entry fees and the expenses used in the child preparation. These challenges force the parents to do something to ensure that their children participate in the competitions (Mitchell & Reid-Walsh 2007). There are various reports from the pageants reports that many parents borrow money to pay the pageant entry fee, and yet they have not paid for their house rent and other basic requirements. These harsh challenges force the parents and guardians to show the factitious disorder symptoms (Tasman & First 2011). The situations at hand force them to act weirdly to attract attention from other people so that their needs may be addressed. The children, on the other hand, have trained hard to take part in the competition (Parrish & Perman 2004). The children are aware that their parents should help them to get into the competition; hence the parents are forced to do their best to acquire all the requirements the children need. Factitious Disorder is a difficult to diagnose and treat (Tasman & First 2011). The doctors and health officers involved with patients with this disorder have to be involved in complicit activities whether they like or not. Some of the complicit activities include administering fake prescriptions and taking less notice of patient. The criteria of Factitious Disorder by Proxy include presenting another person as ill or impaired, falsification of psychological or physical signs or induction of a disease in another person in the deception plan, deceptive behavior and a strange illness behavior is seen, which is not in relation to another mental disorder. These criteria are the key points that lead doctors and clinical officers to determine if the disorder is Factitious. The criteria of Factitious Disorder by Proxy are characterized by various symptoms that patients seem to display. Some of the symptoms include the victim with the symptoms does not respond to treatment as expected, illness will appear more intense in the presence of the perpetrator, and the victim shows no symptoms of illness in the absence of the perpetrator. The perpetrator is the person who takes the patient to hospital. The patient in this disorder is usually a child, while the perpetrator is particularly the parent or family relative. The induced illness in Factitious Disorder by Proxy has various possibilities such as diabetes, diarrhea and other physical illnesses. It is difficult for doctors to determine the actual ailment in patient due the several possibilities of the disorder. The medical officers have to note carefully on the behavioral changes, which victim display (Tasman & First 2011). On the other hand, it is difficult for a victim to display genuine signs of sickness together with the fabrication of other illness symptoms. The difficulty encountered in identifying the ailment results in the difficulty in diagnosing the disorder. A major symptom of Factitious Disorder by Proxy is the righteous nature of the parents or the perpetrators in answering questions from medical personnel about the factitious behavior of their children (Comer & Gould 2011). The parents usually threaten that they will sue the officers for malpractice, and in other cases, the parents can cause the child to be extremely ill to prove that they were right about the poor health of children. This disorder causes about nine percent death victims who die due to the difficulty in handling (Hales 2008). The parent of the victim, who is usually a child, may want the deception plan, but the child does not want it. This is the reason why some signs, such as the disappearance of ailment when the parent is absent, can be seen. In most cases, the victims are little children who are just but following the parents orders. In this context, parents of beauty pageants require to provide the preparation needs, which include large sums of money. Fabrication of Factitious Disorder by Proxy can be done by parent to the child to attract sympathy from other people. This aims at getting financial assistance from the sympathizers. Parents want to do this to satisfy their needs, and the children have no option other than oblige to the parents’ demands. Child beauty pageants are forced to do things without their will. The children wear make-ups, fake hair extensions and wigs, and use of dangerous chemicals on their body to enhance their body looks (Hales 2008). The parents want the child to win the competition so that they can pay their debts. If the child did not win, that would make the parent to intentionally fake ailments to the child so that they evade their creditors. Children who participate in beauty pageants come across a substantial amount of premature stress (Stange, Oyster & Sloan 2011). The kids not only dress up like adults, but also they face grown up pressures such as competition, practicing for long hours, criticism, failures, sexuality and disappointment (Hales 2008). These pressures can significantly affect child development in the early ages. Child specialists say that competitions at the early ages make them lack the formation of positive relationships with other kids. Other effects of child competition include depression, delayed social development and high risk of attracting to other diseases. Parents and guardians take little keen to the advice from specialists. This results in reduced spirits in training of the children, and performance on stage. Children performance on stage determines whether the kid will win or not, however, when the performance is reduced due to low motivation and exhaustion the winning chances are reduced. On the other hand, parents and guardians use harsh language to the kids; this makes the kids have fear, which affects their performance. Competition becomes tough for kids, since all of them want to win. The parents are put tough order to the children to perform beyond their capabilities. This creates exhaustion and forces the kids to withdraw from the competition. The children view the pageants as a way of entertainment, and they try to enjoy to their best and eventually results in to some rewards. However, parents and guardians view it as a source of fame and income for the family. This is the reason why the parents put many commitments on themselves to ensure the kids are well prepared for the occasion (Stange, Oyster & Sloan 2011). Most of the times, children who are involved in Factitious Disorder by Proxy are not aware of the conditions that they are put in by their parents and guardians. Many of them suffer tremendously due to this disorder, since the parents use them as the testing kits for their endeavors. The parents can even think of interfering with the prescriptions that the child has been given by the medical personnel to attract attention from the medics or other people for sympathy. The children are motivated to continue pretending to be ill until the need that the parent required is satisfied. Children are made to perform weird moves on stage by their parents so as to convince the judges (Stange, Oyster & Sloan 2011). This can be viewed as a form of the disorder, and the kids have to perform due to the harsh nature of their parents. Not all parents are harsh to their kids; hence some of them use the siblings to convince and motivate the beauty pageant to concentrate on their training and performance. These motivations from the siblings and relatives make the beauty pageant to pretend in all manners to satisfy the needs of the parents and relatives (Heltsley & Calhoun 2003). The parents who are involved in feigning Factitious Disorder symptoms on the beauty pageants do not use of the criteria but utilizes just a few of them. For instance, beauty pageants are made to pretend that they have beautiful hair and body look, but they have used lots of chemicals on the body to make it have that look. Kids who have their milk teeth removed have to use fake teeth on stage. The perfectionism involved plays a crucial role in displaying the signs of the disorder. Parents are involved in many endeavors that aim at motivating and making the child aware of what they are doing. These activities make them meet some of the criteria of Factitious Disorder by Proxy. Some of the activities include dressing their kids to look like adults and making them perform like adults on stage. Other activities involve the parent and the kid, who feign signs of Factitious Disorder by Proxy due to the debts they have from the excessive expenses incurred during preparation for the pageant. These debts make the parent stop interacting with other people and the child does not play with other children but is made to concentrate on training. The kid is deprived the social growth with other children on the basis that they do not damage their smooth and bright face. These parents behavior of depriving children some of their rights can be viewed as Factitious Disorder. They view their children as assets and cannot let them interact with other children who can be sent to damage the pageant smooth, bright body (Stange, Oyster & Sloan 2011). The pageants education is affected, since they spend most of their time training for the beauty pageants and parties in order for them to win. The deprivation of education to the kids is another behavior that makes the parents practices some of criteria of Factitious Disorder. The parents’ time is used in child preparation, and rarely finds time to get some work to earn income. This is one of the causes of the incurring debts from other people and eventfully ends up developing into Factitious Disorder. The children act as a source of income for the family, therefore, the parents and guardians try to concentrate most of their time to ensure that the pageant’s status is in a good state (Heltsley & Calhoun 2003). For instance, there was a mother who had a kid and the kid was participating in the beauty pageant. The mother made splendid costumes for the kid that made her win in many contests. Other parents met the mother and asked her to make clothes for their kids so that they can also win in the beauty contests. The mother was making money from the winning of her kid. This shows that the kid’s winning made the mother increase the number of customers (Levey 2009). The tailor’s kid is forced to win in many contests so that the family business does not go down. The kid has a burden and has to win always so that customers keep on coming to her mother to order more clothing. In this case, the mothers and guardians of the child pageants obtain income from the kid’s performance (Heltsley & Calhoun 2003). The kids wining in various contests make the family gain popularity in the pageant industry. Popularity is a crucial aspect since; the family can get sponsors from the various companies, which sponsor the beauty pageant. The parents of the beauty pageants argue that kids get to learn something in the pageant industry and can get to places such as movie deals, beauties their own television shows and modeling concerts (Merino 2009). As a result, kids grow knowing having a basis of development in their lives. However, to the kids, pageants have positive and negative effects. Some of the positive effects include scholarships, popularity in the world, winning trophies, knowing many high profile people and moving to many places (Comer & Gould 2011). On the other hand, the negative effects are disastrous to the healthy development of the child. The negative effects compose the psychological and physical effects on the child. Some of the negative effects include eating disorders, formation negative relationships due to competition, depression, exploitation from the coaches and sponsors, and poisoning from the use of chemicals. Harmful chemicals are used in the process of tanning the skin, breast augmentations and plastic surgeries (Comer & Gould 2011). The aim of using these chemicals is to attain flawless skin, but the kids start using them when they are very young and affect their emotional and body development. These behaviors by the parents make the kids act as the victims of Factitious Disorder. In this context, the parents have various achievements that they want to gain from playing the deceptive role in the Factitious Disorder. First, the kids that they are preparing for the pageants need to know that they have support in any situation, in their life. This achievement aims at making the kid realize that the parent or guardian is supportive and loving. Another achievement is that the income, which they get from the pageant, is used in the development of the family (Levey 2009). Parents want their kids to win in the beauty pageant; hence, any activities that they involve their kids in are for the betterment of their performance on the stage. The parents struggle and put all their effort in motivating the kids by buying expensive clothes and make-ups for the kids to feel worthy to go on stage. The parent wants to achieve the awareness of the kid of what she is doing before the judges. Some achievements, which the parents aim at, are accomplished, and factitious criteria are achieved in the process. On the other hand, the kids carry all the burden of trying to be perfects in almost everything from the facial look, mode of dressing and in the mode of performing on the stage (Comer & Gould 2011). This perfectionism is what their parents aim at achieving in order to raise the chances of winning in the beauty contest. Another indirect achievement, which parents are trying to achieve, is fame and recognition in various events such as magazines photo shooting, movie deals and getting famous mates for their kids. This achievement is brought about by the performance of the kids and winning various trophies in the contest. The child beauty pageants, as seen in this context, are living in their own world of perfectionism in their life. Their parents are the key controllers on what to do in gain perfection. As young as ten, young girls are made to perform before judges trying to win fame and other awards in the beauty contests. These children face serious physical and psychological consequences, which affect their emotional, physical and social development (Comer & Gould 2011). Currently, there are no government regulations that control the child beauty pageants in the pageantry industry. The society’s opposition to this industry has fallen on deaf ears, and the pageant individuals continue in their exploitation of children in the various contests held every year. The effects of Factitious Disorder by Proxy on the kids are caused by their parents. These parents want their kids perform better, and this leads the kids doing things that they are not willing. The regulation of the pageant industry by the government is required to prevent the kids from adverse effects caused by the beauty contests and the Factitious Disorder by Proxy. References: Comer, R. & Gould, E. 2012, Psychology around Us, John Wiley & Sons: New York. Hales, R. 2008, The American Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry, American Psychiatry Publishers: New York. Heltsley, M. & Calhoun, T. 2003, The Good Mother: Neutralization Techniques Used by Pageant Mothers, Deviant Behavior, 24(2), 81-100. Levey, H. 2009, Pageant Princesses and Math Whizzes: Understanding Children’s Activities as a Form of Children’s Work, Childhood, 16, 195-212. Lieberman, L. 2010, Note and Comment; Protecting Pageant Princesses: A call for Statutory Regulation of Child Beauty Pageants, Journal of law and Policy, 18(739), 1-32. Merino, N. 2009, Beauty Pageants, Gale: Michigan. Mitchell, C. & Reid-Walsh, J. 2007, Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood Publishing Group: Westport. Parrish, M & Perman, J. 2004, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: Some Practice Implications for Social Workers, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21(2), 137-153. Stange, M., Oyster, C. K. & Sloan, J. 2011, Beauty Pageant(Babies/Young Children), Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World, 1, 138. Tasman, A. & First, M.B. 2011, Clinical Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Disorders, John Wiley and Sons: New York. Read More