(U-WIRE) TOLEDO, Ohio – The woman who said she was stabbed March 9 near the Health and Human Services Building at the University of Toledo confessed to fabricating the crime and inflicting the stab wound and other injuries on herself, UT police Chief John Dauer said.

Livingston, a fifth-year student majoring in financial services, accepted a counselor from UT’s Counseling Center after she confessed to making up the stabbing, Dauer said. He said she cited personal problems and problems at home.

Livingston declined to comment at this time.

Psychology Professor Jeanne Funk talked to the Independent Collegian about general cases of behavior used to gain attention.

“This particular way of making a cry for help is pretty unusual,” Funk said. “It alarmed a vulnerable community.”

Funk said people who do things for attention are usually making a cry for help, and people who display these behaviors usually have low self-esteem, a large amount of stress and lack of a social support system.

“There are people who make a cry for help and don’t know what they’re doing,” and there are people who do it in a “deliberate and manipulative way,” she said.

“In either situation, it’s a pretty extreme behavior,” she added.

She said people who display these behaviors must find the sources of stress, mobilize their support system and deal with issues of self-esteem.

Dauer said Livingston’s story wasn’t adding up and, after several interviews, she admitted to falsifying the crime.

She could now face charges of falsification, a misdemeanor, which could mean 30 to 60 days in jail, Dauer said.

The decision on whether to charge Livingston with falsification will come “shortly,” according to Dauer.

Dauer didn’t have the exact figures on how much it cost UTPD to dispatch officers and investigate Livingston’s stabbing, but said it was at least “a couple thousand.”

No suspects were arrested for her stabbing.