I read that bit,  Nina - it could be schizophrenia, but my grandmother and a few family friends have had schizophrenia before, and despite the fact that they've heard voices, they've never tried to mutilate themselves. Then again, grandma jumped in front of a bus a few times, so I don't know. Like I said. More details. Always good.
But damn!

I can understand that someone with schizophrenia gets the urge to end their life, but pulling your own eyes out... that takes a hell lot of will, it takes way more than a few seconds to rip your eyes out... so, yeah, im very prone to believe its more than just him being a mental case...

[TeteoInan]

Well, Loki's idea of PCP fits if this is a case of something other than the paranormal.

There are a few different Cluster A Personality issues than can eventually lead into extreme cases of self mutilation like this. Ooh, the disorder I mentioned in the Documentary topic, body dysmorphic disorder has had cases of self mutilation to the point of hospitalization before.

I'm really hoping that the guy just finally lost it, cause the thought of something possesing someone and making them do that to themselves just scares the hell out of me, I've heard about something like it in old stories and movies, but hearing about it in real life :shudders:.

I'm going to be looking into this a little more for the sake of sheer curiosity. Will let you know what I find out.

Awesome. You do that

I read that bit,  Nina - it could be schizophrenia, but my grandmother and a few family friends have had schizophrenia before, and despite the fact that they've heard voices, they've never tried to mutilate themselves.

In 2009, Matthew Large, Nick Babidge, Doug Andrews, Philip Storey, and Olav Nielssen published "Major Self-mutilation in the First Episode of Psychosis" (Schizophrenia Bulletin 2009 35: 1012-1021.) Their study only looked at cases in New South Wales, Australia (population approx. 7 million). Of the 189 cases identified, they found that 89% involved males, and for 53% of the cases this was the first psychotic episode they had demonstrated. Of the major self-mutilations, 40% involved removing their eyes. Other injuries including amputating their own limbs, cutting off their genitals and castrating themselves. Only 7.9% were under the influence of drink or drugs at the time. 68.5% suffered religious delusions, and 31.5% said a voice commanded them to do it. Contrary to what you might think, they reported "The predominance of ocular and genital MSM in published cases may be because these injuries are easier to perform." They also found that: "Many were so ill that they were indifferent to pain and to the loss of their organs."

It doesn't seem to be a rare occurrence. The rarity is more likely caused by the fact that most MSM in schizophrenia doesn't make it into main stream media reporting.

Of course, this doesn't really explain why they do it, just that they do, and often. The link between religious psychosis - and I'm offering a guess here, not a fact that I can back up with evidence - and MSM may have something to do with Mark 9:47 - "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out..."

Your guess is as good as any. Too bad that no further reports about this case were posted on the internet....

"Aldo Bianchini, laureato in chimica ma disoccupato, 46 anni con problemi psichici, era in cura da uno psichiatra ma da qualche tempo avrebbe smesso di prendere i farmaci che gli erano stati prescritti."  "L'uomo era in cura da tempo per i suoi problemi psichici ma avrebbe deciso autonomamente di non assumere più i farmaci prescritti" - Had a long history of psych problems and had stopped taking his meds.

"Laureato in chimica, parla 5 lingue Aldo Bianchini è comunque laureato in chimica e parla cinque lingue" - Degree in Chemistry, speaks 5 languages (not including "tongues" I guess...)

"Lei e' vedova ed entrambi abitano insieme da una ventina di anni a Viareggio, dove le risorse finanziarie per vivere giungono dalle attività" - Has lived at home with his mom for the last 20 years, they rely on money from family in Scotland.

"Ma, spiega l'anziana madre "non ha mai trovato lavoro"" - He's never had a job.

"Ieri mattina Aldo ha sentito la voce di quel demone più forte che mai. Per scacciarlo è andato di buon ora a messa nella sua parrocchia, quella di San Paolino. Poi ha chiesto di andare a Sant' Andrea per un' altra funzione." - The demonic voice was so strong that day he went first to mass at his local church and then afterwards for another mass at St. Andrew's.

"Al momento del folle gesto, accanto a Bianchini, 46enne con problemi psichici, c'era la madre che ha rivelato come suo figlio le abbia detto: "È il castigo di Dio"" - He said it was "...the punishment of God."

I have also read a case history from 2004 involving a 49-year old Chinese man in Hong Kong. His religious delusions were based around Chinese Buddhism. He was instructed by two deities  天后 ("Heavenly Empress") and 观世音 ("Observing the Cries of the World") to chop off fingers on two occasions, and eventually to chop off his p enis. He was told by the second deity that if he did this, he would save the world. He remained conscious and said he had felt no pain on each of the occasions that he mutilated himself.

Interestingly, the two figures he claimed were instructing him are not considered "demonic" or in any way malignant - they are seen as compassionate, benign "mother" figures.

Right, so there is another question hiding here. We always assume that demons and such would make you feel fear and threat and whatnot (with all sorts of other negative emotions). But in this later case, guy felt no pain and those figures gave him nothing but some sort of "divine" feeling. Would a truly divine entity ask from someone to chop their parts of, even pain aside? What would it do for the rest of humanity? (unless the dude wanted to use them to shoot someone?).

 Furthermore, in the first case, guy was obviously very well educated. We also always assume that those that fall to this sort of issue are those of lower education and/or lower social status. This guy was all but that. Ok, i can understand that living with a mother can drive you crazy, but jokes aside, there had to be a damn good reason for someone of such education not to have a job or place of his own. Ok, he was suffering from paranoid schiz, but still. If he lived with his mother, why didnt she take care that he takes the treatment?
 Scotland is known for strong religious influence. Why did they move from there?  We lack a lot of information about his background in this area. And Italy being The Place for everyone that is into Catholicism... hm, it makes me wonder what is that that they are not telling us.

I would like to note that I always approach any and all situations with quite a bit of skepticism. That having been said, there is a very big lack of information here, and thus I can't just give a "diagnosis," per say, immediately - especially with cases such as this.

there is a very big lack of information here

Agreed.