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Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders also refers to as “factitious disorder,” is defined by its perpetrator inducing or coercing another person to fake physical and psychological symptoms expressly to obtain attention and sympathy.

Court records show Kristy Schneider was charged Monday with endangering the welfare of a minor for “creating a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury” to the boy due to factitious disorder, previously known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Factitious disorder is when someone falsely claims another person is ill in order to deceive other people, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Instead, she explained that Munchausen syndrome by proxy – classified under “factitious disorder imposed on another” in the latest American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – doesn’t always, or even usually, involve poison.

Because of his specialization in factitious disorder, Feldman hears from both victims and perpetrators of Munchausen by Internet.