Foreign Body Ingestion in a Patient with Psychiatric Illness

Abstract

Background: There are many challenges in treating patients who engage in deliberate foreign-body ingestion as a method of self-harm. Whereas other forms of mutilation may be dangerous to patients and distressing to their treaters, foreign-body ingestion carries a sense of insidiousness in the lack of outward evidence that harm has been done and in the latent risk of further injury even after a diagnosis has been made. Case Report: Here we report a case of foreign body ingestion in a patient with psychiatric illness and discuss what is known about deliberate foreign-body ingestion and some of the clinical problems they pose, with a focus on medical literature regarding the diagnosis and treatment of such cases. Conclusion: Timely counseling and psychiatric support is essential for foreign body ingestions.