A case of moderate self-harm of half year' duration is described in a 17-years old girl. The girl had onset of self-harm at age 17, when she started the separating process, which comprises leaving the institution care and exhibited several problems of psychosocial development such as behavioral, emotional, and educational problems. She fulfilled the DSM-V-R diagnostic criteria for non-suicidal self-injury: major interpersonal difficulty and negative feelings and thoughts (depression, anxiety). She had a “passivity or apathy of personality”. In therapy she expressed feelings of anger and hostile aggressiveness with both mother and institution care, both of which she equated with abuse. She deliberately sought inner calm by cutting and abusing, and stated that she obtained peace from the abdominal pain caused by these acts. The case was discussed in the light of the controversial theory that the act of cutting and curing is what is significant in self-harm, but the scars themselves, too. Self-harm adolescents hide their scars carefully. In this sense, the body is considered as “transitional object”. In this case, the act is a strong means of regulating intense affect, and preventing overstimulation or impending fragmentation. Thus, for this girl, cutting is a form of survival and engaging with the world.