Citation

Favazza AR, DeRosear L, Conterio K. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 1989; 19(4): 352-361.

Affiliation

University of Missouri, Columbia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2609364

Abstract

Patients with eating disorders are at high risk for self-mutilation (e.g., skin cutting and burning), and vice versa. Evidence for this linkage comes from a literature review, from patient interviews, from responses to an instrument we have developed (the Self-Harm Behavior Survey), and from three instructive case reports. Even if the self-mutilation in these patients is regarded as a Borderline Personality Disorder symptom, DSM-IV should list it as an associated feature or a complication of Anorexia Nervosa/Bulimia Nervosa. In lieu of a dual diagnosis, we postulate that the combination of self-mutilation, anorexia, bulimia, and other symptoms (such as episodic alcohol abuse and swallowing foreign objects) may be manifestations of an impulse control disorder known as the "deliberate self-harm syndrome."