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Self-harming in old people
ChristopherJ
Posts: 976 Forum Member
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Anyone know how common this is?
My dad's neighbour, who is in her late 70s, was devastated by the loss of her husband 18 months ago. She is still visited every day by her son but she has not been coping well. She now also has problems with her new chavvy neighbours next door and was recently told to 'Shut yer mouth and get inside!' – not something which had ever happened to her in the previous 50 years she has lived there when her husband was still alive.
Last week she turned up at my dad's house with a long deep gash on her arm which she said was caused by walking past a door and catching it on the deadbolt (the sharp retractable part of the lock that sticks out on a door edge) and she asked him to bandage it, but she eventually needed it stitched at the hospital. A few days later she arrived at my dad's house with another smaller gash in almost the same place, which she said was caused in the same way.
No-one seems sure it is self-harming, but it seems so ridiculously unlikely for this to have happened the way she claimed. Self-harming is not something I associate with the elderly, so has anyone any experience of this?
My dad's neighbour, who is in her late 70s, was devastated by the loss of her husband 18 months ago. She is still visited every day by her son but she has not been coping well. She now also has problems with her new chavvy neighbours next door and was recently told to 'Shut yer mouth and get inside!' – not something which had ever happened to her in the previous 50 years she has lived there when her husband was still alive.
Last week she turned up at my dad's house with a long deep gash on her arm which she said was caused by walking past a door and catching it on the deadbolt (the sharp retractable part of the lock that sticks out on a door edge) and she asked him to bandage it, but she eventually needed it stitched at the hospital. A few days later she arrived at my dad's house with another smaller gash in almost the same place, which she said was caused in the same way.
No-one seems sure it is self-harming, but it seems so ridiculously unlikely for this to have happened the way she claimed. Self-harming is not something I associate with the elderly, so has anyone any experience of this?
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I have seen something a bit different, which is the compulsive self-harming some people with dementia show. Occasionally you get people who continually pull their hair out or scratch or pick their skin, and they can end up an awful mess.
But this lady sounds as if she is making some kind of desperate cry for help. I know very well how fiendishly difficult it is to get older people to leave their homes, but she might be much happier in a retirement flat where there would be people of her own age group around her, and she could join them for tea in the lounge every afternoon. Easy advice to give, I know. If anyone has succeeded in persuading anyone, let me know how, as I am sure my father would be much happier on a retirement flat as well.
I have caught my arm in exactly that way and didn't realise I was bleeding until I saw blood on the chair arm, it is possible. are her door handles higher? as they used to be in older properties.
I agree too, but I don't necessarily see those two things as mutually exclusive.
What you're describing there sounds like Trichotillomania. It's a manifestation of emotional distress, rather than dementia & can occur at any age.
No, nor me.