In the classic edition of this outstanding book, originally published in 2004, Dr. Marc Feldman explores the bizarre cases of real patients who feign or even self-induce illness. Playing Sick? chronicles the devastating impact of illness hoaxes, including factitious disorders, Munchausen syndrome, Munchausen by proxy, and malingering. Based on years of research and clinical practice, Playing Sick? provides the clues that can help professionals, family members, friends, and patients themselves to recognize these diagnoses, avoid invasive procedures, and understand elusive motives. Dr. Feldman offers practical advice to get emotionally ill patients the help they need. This classic edition is essential reading for physicians, social workers, and anyone interested in why and how individuals fabricate illness.

Few life occurrences shaped individual and collective identities within Victorian-era society as critically as witnessing or suffering from illness. The prevalence of illness narratives within late nineteenth-century popular culture was made manifest on the period’s British and American stages, where theatrical embodiments of illness were indisputable staples of actors’ repertoires. Playing Sick: Performances of Illness in the Age of Victorian Medicine reconstructs how actors embodied three of the era’s most provocative illnesses: tuberculosis, drug addiction, and mental illness. In placing performances of illness within wider medicocultural contexts, Meredith Conti analyzes how such depictions confirmed or resisted salient constructions of diseases and the diseased. Conti’s case studies, which range from Eleonora Duse’s portrayal of the consumptive courtesan Marguerite Gautier to Henry Irving’s performance of senile dementia in King Lear, help to illuminate the interdependence of medical science and theatre in constructing nineteenth-century illness narratives. Through reconstructing these performances, Conti isolates from the period’s acting practices a lexicon of embodied illness: a flexible set of physical and vocal techniques that performers employed to theatricalize the sick body. In an age when medical science encouraged a gradual decentering of the patient from their own diagnosis and treatment, late nineteenth-century performances of illness symbolically restored the sick to positions of visibility and consequence.

Play for Sick Children offers a unique insight into the crucial work of the play specialist. It examines the repercussions of being ill and receiving treatment experienced by children and their families, and highlights the importance of receiving quality play opportunities to counter these negative effects. The author proposes that play should be a high priority for those working in hospitals and other healthcare settings, and challenges other professionals to acknowledge, understand, accept and value the play specialist's role within the multidisciplinary team. The book explores the history of play in hospital, outlines the basic techniques and practical approaches used in working with sick children and young people, and identifies and discusses key theoretical and practical elements of the ever-changing role of the play specialist. This all-encompassing resource will be of great value to the ever growing and dedicated community of professionals who provide play, information and emotional support for sick children and their families.

Tіmе соuld сhаngе a lоt, fоr better оr wоrѕе. Fоr instance, Dаіѕу'ѕ lіfе wаѕ nоrmаl. Shе hаd a lоvіng older brоthеr, frіеndlу реорlе аrоund аnd аn аnnоуіng guy who just happened to bе hеr brоthеr'ѕ best frіеnd. But fаtе hаd ѕоmеthіng еlѕе in ѕtоrе fоr hеr аnd еvеrуthіng сhаngеd оvеrnіght. Thе same реорlе whо once lоvеd thе Sinclaires bеgаn tаlkіng behind their bасkѕ, her brоthеr'ѕ bеѕt friend Olіvеr ѕееmеd tо hate hеr more thаn еvеr fоr lеаvіng hеr and most importantly, Maxwell - hеr brоthеr - went mіѕѕіng. With all hope lоѕt, аnd іnvеѕtіgаtіоnѕ turning uр wіth nо сluеѕ, ѕhе trіеd to саrrу оn wіth hеr life, dеѕреrаtе tо lеаvе behind hеr dreadful раѕt. But ѕеvеn years later, she wаѕ forced tо come bасk wіth rеіgnіtеd hopes оf seeing him аgаіn. Nоt knоwіng whаt tо do, she turns tо thе реорlе she оnсе lеft behind - dеtеrmіnеd to fіnd оut the truth fоr hеrѕеlf, even іf it hurtѕ hеr. Will ѕhе find hіm? Or will everything fall араrt?