Guide To Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors

Trichophagia

While most individuals likely do whatever they can to remove it if they feel as though they have a hair in their mouth, individuals who suffer from body-focused repetitive behaviors might actually choose to eat the hair instead. This compulsion is known as trichophagia. While trichophagia can sometimes occur because of a deficiency in protein or other aspects of nutrition, for patients who suffer from body-focused repetitive behaviors, the compulsion is usually performed because of a perceived imperfection in their hair. This can sometimes be coupled with tugging their hair out of the scalp and then ingesting it.

Eating hair isn't a good thing. The body cannot breakdown or dissolve hair that easily. Much like a cat, it can ball up inside the body and cause quite a few problems. In some cases, patients may need to have surgery to remove the ball of hair from their stomach. It can also cause them to choke, which can damage their esophagus. Therapy can be used to unlearn the behavior and adopt a better one.

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