When we enter the world of psychopathology, we find that there are truly surprising and serious disorders. In this article we will talk about one of them, Rapunzel Syndrome
This syndrome is also known as trichophagia, and consists of compulsively swallowing one’s own hair (or even that of others) without being able to avoid it. We will talk about its symptoms, possible causes and treatments.
Rapunzel Syndrome is about a very rare and complex entity, described for the first time in 1968 by surgeon Vaughan ED Jr. and his collaborators To date, 108 pediatric cases have currently been described in the world literature, of which two have been published in Spain.
The name of this pathology comes from the famous character from the Brothers Grimm stories. Rapunzel Syndrome appears especially in young women.
It is a compulsive psychological disorder, characterized by The individual who suffers from it ingests his own hair without being able to avoid it, causing an intestinal obstruction extremely rare and serious.
Symptoms
The person with Rapunzel Syndrome occasionally pulls out their hair, tastes it, bites it, and finally swallows it; Sometimes it can even ingest other people’s hair.
Over time, These patients end up developing a kind of ritual The behavior can also include eyebrow hair and even eyelashes.
This is a serious syndrome, since the human gastrointestinal tract does not have the capacity to digest hair, so what happens is that it tends to remain in the stomach for a prolonged period of time. This causes a large hair ball (called a trichobezoar) to form in the stomach, and that the only way to remove it is surgically
This hairball can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, and in severe cases, obstruct the intestinal tract. Additionally, the syndrome can cause diarrhea, weight loss and abdominal pain, among other symptoms.
Complications
Thus, Rapunzel Syndrome can become very complicated. If the hairball ends up forming in the stomach, and if it is also of considerable size, the effects can be really serious for the person, since as we have seen the intestinal tract is unable to digest the main component of hair, keratin
In these cases, surgery must be performed. One of them became known in the US; that of a 38-year-old woman who had lost 7 kilos in 8 months. Her symptoms were nausea, vomiting and constipation. She had a hairball accumulated in her stomach and they had to undergo surgery.
Associated disorders
Rapunzel Syndrome is associated with trichotillomania (also a disorder belonging to obsessive-compulsive disorders in the DSM-5), a disorder that involves compulsive hair pulling; If the individual also swallows his own hair, we speak of trichophagia (equivalent to Rapunzel Syndrome).
Causes
The causes of Rapunzel Syndrome are not entirely clear. However, existing cases (estimated at 4% of the US population), are related to depressive problems, anxiety and low self-esteem
Treatment
The treatment of Rapunzel Syndrome will focus on eliminating these serious compulsive behaviors; behavioral exposure therapy with response prevention can be used , in which the person avoids the behavior of pulling out, biting or swallowing hair. Also habit reversal therapy, where the aim is to replace harmful habits with alternative and incompatible behaviors.
In addition, cognitive-behavioral therapy would also be indicated to treat associated erroneous thoughts as well as cognitive distortions and/or anxious and depressive symptoms that may appear.
They can also be used, always under medical prescription and in consultation with a specialist, drugs to alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms associated with the disorder such as anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications.
