Self-enucleation or oedipism is a term used to describe self-inflicted enucleation. It is a rare form of self-mutilation, found mainly in acutely psychotic patients. We propose the term incomplete oedipism to describe patients who deliberately and severely mutilate their eyes without proper enucleation. We report the case of a 32-year-old male patient with a five-year history of psychotic depression accompanied by paranoid delusions centered around his belief that his neighbors criticized him and stared at him. A central feature of his clinical picture was an eye injury that the patient had caused by pouring molten lead into his right eye during a period of deep hopelessness and suicidality when the patient could not resolve his anhedonia and social isolation. Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy dramatically improved his disorder. © 2006 Pompili et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Incomplete oedipism and chronic suicidality in psychotic depression with paranoid delusions related to eyes / Pompili, Maurizio; D., Lester; Tatarelli, Roberto; Girardi, Paolo. - In: ANNALS OF GENERAL PSYCHIATRY. - ISSN 1744-859X. - 5:(2006), pp. 5-18. [10.1186/1744-859x-5-18]
Incomplete oedipism and chronic suicidality in psychotic depression with paranoid delusions related to eyes
POMPILI, Maurizio;TATARELLI, Roberto;GIRARDI, Paolo
2006
Abstract
Self-enucleation or oedipism is a term used to describe self-inflicted enucleation. It is a rare form of self-mutilation, found mainly in acutely psychotic patients. We propose the term incomplete oedipism to describe patients who deliberately and severely mutilate their eyes without proper enucleation. We report the case of a 32-year-old male patient with a five-year history of psychotic depression accompanied by paranoid delusions centered around his belief that his neighbors criticized him and stared at him. A central feature of his clinical picture was an eye injury that the patient had caused by pouring molten lead into his right eye during a period of deep hopelessness and suicidality when the patient could not resolve his anhedonia and social isolation. Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy dramatically improved his disorder. © 2006 Pompili et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.