I think I have Auschwitz Syndrome

I couldn’t help but overhearing the 23 year-old telling a story to another co-worker in the copy room this morning. She was know-it-all-ing-ly explaining “Auschwitz Syndrome.” Me being me, and it being Friday, I had to jump in.

“Auschwitz Syndrome? That sounds terrible.”

“Yeah, it is. You know what it is?”

“You have the urge to shove someone in the oven?”

She looked at me like I had three heads, and had said the most offensive thing in the entire world. Which was kind of my intention.

“Um, no. It’s this awful psychological condition where a parent will intentionally keep a child sick because they get attention and the child continues to need them. Yeah, I always loved psychology classes. They were my best classes in school.”

“That’s so funny. I always thought that was called Munchausen Syndrome. I’ve totally been calling it that all these years! But I only took one introductory psychology class in college.”