Repeated Behavior of Deliberate Foreign Body Ingestion in a Patient with Psychiatric Disorder: A Case Report

Self-destructive behavior within the psychiatric sphere can occur both directly and indirectly. Intentional ingestion of foreign bodies has rarely been discussed in the psychiatric literature. Most reports of foreign body ingestion have been in prisoners. Psychiatric patients who swallow sharp foreign objects have serious psychopathologies, possible suicidal ideation, and past psychiatric hospitalizations. We believe that the approach to this group of patients should be focused on the one hand, on the resolution of the surgical pathology aimed at reversing the risk that it could mean for the patient's life, and on the other hand, on the resolution of the underlying pathology, which is the behavioral disorder, in order to avoid the recurrence of the condition. We present the case of a 29-year-old patient with borderline personality disorder referred from her psychiatric center due to ingestion of several foreign bodies.