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Trichophagia or Rapunzel syndrome is a rare, singular and very rare disorder. People with this disorder have a serious urge to eat hair non-stop. This disorder can lead to serious health problems due to the hairballs that accumulate inside the stomach. What causes a person to end up gobbling their own hairs? For what is this? Does trichophagia have a solution? These questions will be answered in the Psychology-Online article: Trichophagia: what it is, causes and treatment.
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- Trichophagia: causes
- Trichophagia: treatment
Trichophagia: what is it
Trichophagia, also known as Rapunzel syndrome, is a psychological disorder that is defined by the act of compulsively and uncontrolled eating one's own or other's hair, becoming very serious because it causes intestinal obstructions.
It is a quite rare disorder that affects above all women under 30 years of age, with a ratio of 4 to 1 compared to men. Trichophagia affects a very small percentage of the population worldwide. Trichophagia prevelanecia is between 0.6% and 1.6% of the total population, making this disorder very rare. Trichophagia can also occur in babies.
People who suffer from trichophagia or Rapunzel syndrome usually develop a ritual when ingesting their hair that is difficult to control: they play with their hair, if the hair is long they put it in their mouth to taste it and then pull it out so they can chew it until they swallow it. The hair they use is usually that of the scalp, but on various occasions it can be from other parts of the body, such as the eyebrows, eyelashes or other areas. There are cases which are not only limited to their own hair, but will also pull hair from people around them.
This behavior can occur at any time, but it is usually more severe when the person suffering from it is facing stressful situations.
Consequences
Trichophagia disorder is highly associated with trichotillomania, a disorder that belongs to the obsessive-compulsive disorders listed in the DSM-5 that is characterized by compulsive hair-pulling behavior. Studies on trichotolomania indicate that trichophagia develops in 30% of cases.
In general, the obsession of trichotillomania is accompanied by some psychiatric disorder such as depression or anxiety. Although on the other hand, studies associate trichotillomania and trichophagia in cases of sexual abuse in children, psychological abuse or intellectual disability.
Trichophagia: treatment
Does Rapunzel syndrome have a cure? Can trichophagia be treated? Yes. The key to being able to treat a person with trichophagia is to eliminate the compulsive behaviors of eating hair and reduce the causes that cause it. It is essential for this that the person with trichophagia participate in psychotherapeutic treatments. The most commonly used treatments to treat trichophagia or Rapunzel syndrome are the following:
- Response Deprivation Behavioral Therapy. To learn to avoid the behavior of eating hair in exposure to situations that provoke it.
- Habit reversal therapy. It consists of giving more functional and healthy alternatives as a response to anxiety instead of ingesting hair. For example, whenever the urge to eat hair arises, go for a brisk walk, or apply deep breathing techniques.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy. It would be used to treat psychological disorders that may accompany and aggravate trichophagia, such as anxiety disorders.
Co
In cases where trichophagia occurs in conjunction with trichotillomania, the therapies are very similar to those mentioned above. Special emphasis would be placed on behavioral therapies to eliminate hair-pulling behavior. It would also include all the therapies focused on appeasing the symptoms of anxiety, which is the main precipitant of compulsive behaviors. In the following article you will find Breathing exercises to calm anxiety.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Trichophagia: what it is, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical Psychology.
Bibliography- American Psychiatric Association. (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana, SA
- Jaramillo-Borges, YM (2007). Trichotillomania, Trichophagia and Rapunzel Syndrome. Costa Rican Medical Act , 49 (1), 4-5.
- Loja, D., Alvizuri, J., Vilca, M., & Sánchez, M. (2003, March). Rapunzel syndrome: gastroduodenal trichobezoar. In Annals of the Faculty of Medicine (Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 71-77). UNMSM. School of Medicine.