Human placentophagy after childbirth is touted by some as a treatment for postpartum depression and fatigue, among other health benefits, given its high protein, rich iron and nutrient content. Related practices Įating one's own placenta has a small following in Western cultures, fostered by celebrities like January Jones. In the 1990s, young people in Uganda were forced to eat their own ears. During the violence that following the 1991 Haitian coup d'état, victims sometimes had to eat their own hacked-off body parts. Elizabeth Báthory allegedly forced some of her servants to eat their own flesh in the early 17th century. As a crime įorced self-cannibalism as a form of torture or war crime has been reported. Some people drink their own blood, a practice called autovampirism, but sucking blood from wounds is generally not considered cannibalism. In very rare cases, people have eaten a part of their own body (such as a foot) that had to be amputated for medical reasons such acts may be motivated by curiosity or a desire to attract attention. Some people will engage in self-cannibalism as an extreme form of body modification, for example by ingesting parts of their own skin.
#ANIMAL PICA DEFINITION MANUAL#
Some also consider it a mental disorder in its own right, but it is not listed in the widely used DSM-5 ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition). Self-cannibalism can be a form of self-harm and a symptom of a mental disorder.
Left untreated, this can cause death due to excessive hair buildup.
Other forms of pica include dermatophagia, and compulsion of eating one's own hair, which can form a hairball in the stomach. Humans įingernail-biting that develops into fingernail-eating is a form of pica. While typically used only for this specific process, autophagy has nonetheless occasionally be used as a general synonym for self-cannibalism. In other cases, people were forced to eat parts of themselves as a form of torture.Ī similar term which is applied differently is autophagy, which specifically denotes the normal process of self-degradation by cells.
In humans, it can be a symptom of a mental disorder, but there are also a handful of people who have voluntarily consumed an amputated body part. īoth humans and some animal species occasionally practice self-cannibalism. While some texts use this strict definition, others use the term autocannibalism in a wider sense that includes the consumption of hair or nails from one's own body. In line with this usage, self-cannibalism means the consumption of flesh from one's own body. Generally, only the consumption of flesh (including organ meat such as heart or liver) by an individual of the same species is considered cannibalism. Self-cannibalism is the practice of eating parts of one's own body, also called autocannibalism or autosarcophagy.
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