[A case of self-circumcision]

A 29-year-old bachelor had immigrated from Uzbekistan to Israel 2 years before to improve his economic situation. He began drinking at the age of 20, and increased to 1-1.5 bottles of vodka a day. He was unable to keep a job more than a few months. When called up for limited military service, he thought that the army might be a solution for his employment problem. However, he felt that he would not be able to integrate into the army, and later into Israeli society, unless he was circumcised. The Ministry of Religion deferred his request for a religious circumcision because they did not consider him Jewish. Since he could not afford to pay for the operation, he read up on the procedure, drank a bottle of vodka as premedication, and tried to circumcise himself with a razor blade. Since he was unable to control bleeding, he applied to the hospital emergency room half an hour later, where the circumcision was completed and sutured. The psychiatric diagnosis was an unspecified personality disorder with psychopathic but not psychotic features.