38 A case who had deliberate self-harm by inserting needles to her body for 12 years _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Olgu sunumu / Case report A case who had deliberate self-harm by inserting needles to her body for 12 years Aslıhan OKAN İBİLOĞLU, 1 Abdullah ATLI, 2 Süleyman DEMİR, 1 Aytekin SIR 3 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Deliberate self-harm or self-injurious behaviors (SIB) defined as ‘the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue without suicidal intent’ in addition to this topic has generated mounting interest among mental health professionals, over the past years. Psychiatric disordered patients have the tendency to self-harm repeatedly. We report here, a case that was referred for SIB with deliberately inserted needles in her body, over the last 12 years. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2016; 17(Suppl.3):38-40) Keywords: self-injurious behaviour, foreign body, stressful life events, impulsivity On iki yıl boyunca iğne ile kendine zarar veren bir olgu ÖZ İntihar niyeti olmadan kasıtlı olarak kendi vücuduna doğrudan zarar verme olarak tanımlanan “kasıtlı olarak kendine zarar verme veya kendini yaralama davranışı”, son yıllarda ruh sağlığı profesyonelleri arasında giderek daha çok ilgi çekmektedir. Psikiyatrik bozukluğu olan hastaların tekrarlayan biçimde kendine zarar verme eğilimleri vardır. Biz burada yaklaşık 12 yıldır, kasıtlı olarak kendi vücuduna iğne yerleştirerek, kendini yaralama davranışı olan bir olguyu sunuyoruz. (Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2016; 17(Ek.3):38-40) Anahtar sözcükler: Kendini yaralama davranışı, yabancı cisim, olumsuz yaşam olayları, dürtüsellik _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ CASE The 28-years old female was brought to psychi- atry outpatient clinic by her parents for recurrent deliberate self-harm, especially by the sharp objects including the sewing needle, toothpick, and injector needle. She had a mother who suf- fered from recurrent depressive illness, a schizo- phrenic father and a brother who death by com- mitted suicide, for about 12 years ago. Although, results of the numerous detailed psychiatric interviews, we could not find any information about to family history of patient in terms of the self injurious behavior. According to her mother, she was brought up carefully with no serious problems, until the death of her brother. Firstly, she injured herself at the region of neck with a sewing needle, also several self-inflicted body injuries followed. On examination, the head of the needle was palpable under the skin. A foreign body, which appeared to be similar to a needle, was found in the lower limb which embedded in the soft tissues, on lateral plain x- ray (Figure 1). Also, the surgical scar was de- tected on the right neck area, due to an operated thyroid granuloma which was self-embedding of the sewing needle (Figure 2). On psychiatric examination, she was retarded and depressed. She appears to be restless, suspicious takes a long time to answer questions and her voice is soft. She is able to perform _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ * A part of this article was previously published as poster presentations in 7 th International Congress on Psychopharmacology & 3 rd International Symposium on Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (15 to 19 april 2015), Antalya, Turkey 1 Assist. Prof. Dr., 2 Assoc. Prof. Dr., 3 Prof. Dr., Dicle University Medicine Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, Diyarbakır Correspondence Address / Yazışma adresi: Assist. Prof. Dr. Aslıhan OKAN İBİLOĞLU, Dicle University Medicine Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, 21280 Sur/Diyarbakır, Turkey E-mail: aslihan.ibiloglu@dicle.edu.tr Received: 14.10.2015, Accepted: 26.10.2015, doi: 10.5455/apd.203825 Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2016; 17(Suppl.3):38-40