Self-bloodletting: an unusual form of self-mutilation in adolescence.

In this paper, we introduce an adolescent suffering from a rare form of self-mutilation, "self-bloodletting", and discuss dynamics of this maladaptive behavior. Deliberate bloodletting is a rare, but not unheard of, form of self-mutilation associated with eating and personality disorders. Although there are already several case reports in the adult psychiatry literature regarding the clinical features of Lasthenie de Ferjol Syndrome or factitious anemia, this is the first reported adolescent case of self-bloodletting.