Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood

Well written, moving and seriously shocking, this is a great book for anyone working in the care or mental health sector. It looks at Munchousen by proxi, the condition where sufferers are drawn to get attention from medical profesionals at any cost, including, in the case of this story, using your own child and inventing stories about cancer and enducing sickness.
Not for the faint hearted as it is a true story which goes into detail of the abuse a young child faces and the effects of that abuse on her life as an adult. An excellent eye opening book but read with some caution.

Mamma sa att jag var sjuk. När man jobbar inom barnsjukvården blir man lite rädd när man läser sånt här.

A story of a mother who suffers from Munchousen By Proxy and abuses her child in a way that although may not be as physical as most abuse cases it is mentally abusive to the author and ironically although her mother was always taking her to the doctor she was not getting better she was being made worse by her mothers intention.

Its a gripping read that draws attention to the serious severity of this disease.

Very disturbing. Munchausen's by proxy is such a complicated thing, because it's so hard to catch someone with it. I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it, especially to those who work with children. The author tried to tell numerous people about what was going on, and always she was dismissed as having an overactive imagination, etc. While I understand where these people are coming from, it also highlights two issues: One is the lack of communication between medical professionals about a patient, and two is the amount that we discredit most of what children say, even when there is truth to it.

I liked it but I was disappointed that the book never went into depth as to what kind of action she took against her mother and what the results were in the end? Also wondering if she saved that little girl in the end? Ending was very stunted.

And I thought MY family was f-ed up!!! The poor thing! It's amazing she hasn't committed suicide, let alone write an amazing book.

Good read...very sad that this goes on but it is a good book to be aware off if you work with children!

This is a superfast read - very well written and disturbing account of the author's abusive upbringing and her process to find her way out of it. It's also a very informative, and needed, first hand narrative of Munchausen by proxy syndrome.

i've read it before, and i'mnot sure i should have jst re-read it. a sad tale that is quite disturbing. really interesting though, not a form of sbuse we would commonly recoginse so fascinating and worthwhile to share her traumatic tales

While I believe her 100%, all I kept thinking was "unbelievable" the whole time. So disturbing to think a mother could ever subject her child to this, and someone didn't pick up on it. Sad ending I thought as well, she doesn't seem to rise above her beginnings, beyond making the decision to prosecute her mother.