Psychological treatment of malignant vasovagal syncope due to bloodphobia.

A 17-year-old boy with frequent faints due to blood-injury phobia was studied. During cardiovascular reflex investigation in our syncope unit, 50 seconds of asystole were recorded. He was treated using systematic desensitization with muscular tension and cognitive techniques by the Pediatric Psychosocial Department and has not experienced syncopal events again.

[A child with puzzling complaints--does he have a disease?].

Two children were presented to the physician with serious, long-lasting and unexplained complaints. The first was a girl aged four years with diarrhoea, vomiting and subfebrile temperature, the other was a boy aged almost 1 year with sudden spells of cyanosis and tachycardia. The mothers were found to falsify and fabricate the illness of their children: Münchausen syndrome by proxy.