A Major Event of Self-mutilation in a Patient with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Abstract

We describe a young adult male with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) who presented with a non-repetitive, major, genital self-mutilation necessitating urological intervention. On formal psychiatric evaluation, he did not have psychosis or suicidality. Most commonly, self-injury in developmental disability is less severe and more stereotypic; major-class self-mutilation is confined, generally, to psychosis. It is this discrepancy that is the unusual feature of our case.