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Case Report
In the depth of psychic ignorance: Self-mutilation in the alleviation of suffering—A case report
1 University of Vassouras School of Medicine and University of UNIG, RJ, Brazil
2 Iguaçu University, UNIG, School of Medicine, RJ, Brazil
3 Iguaçu University, UNIG, Nova Iguaçu General Hospital, RJ, Brazil
Address correspondence to:
Antônio Marcos da Silva Catharino
Rua Gavião Peixoto 70, Room 811, CEP 24.2230-100, Icaraí, Niterói-RJ,
Brazil
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Article ID: 101320Z01MO2022
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Orsini M, Moreno AM, da Silva Catharino AM, Reis CHM, Silveira VC. In the depth of psychic ignorance: Self-mutilation in the alleviation of suffering—A case report. Int J Case Rep Images 2022;13(2):22–25.ABSTRACT
Introduction: In several cultures—primitive, modern, and contemporary—the body represents an object of communication. According to the definition of the Descriptors in Health Science, self-mutilation is the “act of damaging one’s own body until permanent destruction of a limb or other essential body region is achieved.” Self-mutilation is a kind of agreement to avoid total annihilation of the person, in other words, suicide. In this perspective, it represents a victory, sometimes a pyrrhic victory, of the life drive over the death drive, where a dichotomous relationship is assumed.
Case Report: An 18-year-old, female, student, smoker, alcoholic, refers that she doesn’t use illicit drugs. She reports that months before her mother’s death she started self-mutilating behaviors on her arm, forearm, and thigh. When asked about the reasons that drove her to practice physical injuries on her own body, the patient verbalized: “I feel relief when I provoke another pain different from the one I feel internally.” She adds: “I don’t feel panic when I see blood running down my arm”; “today I am no longer able to cry, so I feel the need to inflict self-injury.” She affirms that at the moment before the mutilation acts, she is balanced, and there are no triggering factors for the injuries.
Conclusion: The undeniable psychic precariousness makes this “private” self-mutilation show, in the recourse to the act-pain, the conceivable damage truly experienced by the subject. In this dimension of absence or emptiness and when facing the act of self-mutilation, the physician is called to exercise not to capture the look of the mutilated body, but to resort to the artifices of a clinic whose ethics is based on listening to a subject trapped in the repetition of the same.
Keywords: Human body, Pain, Self-mutilation
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Marco Orsini - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Adalgiza Mafra Moreno - Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Antônio Marcos da Silva Catharino - Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Carlos Henrique Melo Reis - Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Valéria Camargo Silveira - Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2022 Marco Orsini et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
