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Authors: Wrath James White
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in full sprint. Gripping the thick, wrought-iron curtain rod in both hands, Star took a swing at the lock on the refrigerator, gouging the stainless steel. She swung several more times before the lock finally gave way.
Her mother entered the kitchen behind her just as Star opened the refrigerator and began pulling food off the shelves and scarfing it down. Alexis stood a safe distance away, terrified for the first time that her daughter might be losing her mind. She pulled out her cell phone and tried once more to phone the doctor.
Dr. Trevor Adams didn’t answer his phone. He must still be on the plane , she thought. In desperation, Alexis phoned her psychiatrist.
“Dr. Linder? This is Alexis. I need your help.” Her voice choked and she let out a strangled sob.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
Alexis cleared her throat and wiped away an unexpected sprinkle of tears.
“I think my daughter’s going crazy.”
“Star? What’s wrong with her? Is it her weight again?”
“Yes. I mean, no. Kind of. She keeps eating. She lost a bunch of weight since we came back from the clinic, but she’s eating everything in sight! She bit me and then she ate her own fingers when I wouldn’t give her any food.”
“She-did you say she ate her own fingers?”
Alexis sobbed again. She covered her mouth with her hand and wept.
“Oh, God. Oh, God!”
“Alexis? Alexis? Are you all right? Did you say your daughter ate her own fingers?”
“Yes! She ate them down to the bone! Three of them! She’s raiding the refrigerator right now! What’s wrong with her?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe it’s some extreme type of binge-eating disorder coupled with dermatophagia. Has she ever eaten her own skin before to your knowledge?”
“No. I’d never allow such a horrible thing. What’s dermatophagia?”
“The eating of one’s own skin. It can be symptoms of a number of different things, but rarely is it caused by hunger. Stress is a major cause. Many victims feel stress and picking and eating their own skin is a form of self-soothing. Self-image issues are another of the main causes. They may pick their skin in the hopes of correcting some perceived irregularity in their complexion, though they invariably end up making themselves look worse. Skin-picking may also provide needed stimulation for the nervous system when someone is bored or under-stimulated.”
“You didn’t hear me. She didn’t just chew on her skin. She ate her own damn fingers and she did it because she was hungry! What the hell is wrong with her?”
There was a pause. She heard the doctor clear his throat.
“Self-cannibalism, autosarcophagy, is pretty rare. I’ve never encountered a true case of it myself, though I have read about it. A Chilean artist named Marco Evaristti held a dinner party for a few of his close friends back in 1996 and served a pasta dish with meatballs made from beef and his own belly fat extracted during a liposuction treatment. He claimed he did it as an artistic statement. That may or may not have been the symptom of a mental disorder. That same year, a deathrow inmate in Texas pulled out his eye and ate it. There was a pretty famous case of vorarephilia when a German man, Bernd Jürgen Brande, cut off and ate his own cooked penis before being killed and eaten by Armin Meiwes, the ‘Rotenburg Cannibal’, who also ate some of Brande’s cooked penis.”
Alexis gasped.
“That’s disgusting! Why the hell are you telling me all this? I need you to come over and take care of my little girl.”
“If she’s hurting herself, the best place for her is probably a hospital or a mental facility. Now, I can suggest a few places-“
“A nuthouse! You want me to put my little girl in an insane asylum?” Alexis asked with an exaggerated, theatrical tone of outrage.
“Not an asylum. A place where she can rest and be looked after where she won’t be able to hurt herself.”
“I-I don’t know. Do you really think that’s the
Her mother entered the kitchen behind her just as Star opened the refrigerator and began pulling food off the shelves and scarfing it down. Alexis stood a safe distance away, terrified for the first time that her daughter might be losing her mind. She pulled out her cell phone and tried once more to phone the doctor.
Dr. Trevor Adams didn’t answer his phone. He must still be on the plane , she thought. In desperation, Alexis phoned her psychiatrist.
“Dr. Linder? This is Alexis. I need your help.” Her voice choked and she let out a strangled sob.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
Alexis cleared her throat and wiped away an unexpected sprinkle of tears.
“I think my daughter’s going crazy.”
“Star? What’s wrong with her? Is it her weight again?”
“Yes. I mean, no. Kind of. She keeps eating. She lost a bunch of weight since we came back from the clinic, but she’s eating everything in sight! She bit me and then she ate her own fingers when I wouldn’t give her any food.”
“She-did you say she ate her own fingers?”
Alexis sobbed again. She covered her mouth with her hand and wept.
“Oh, God. Oh, God!”
“Alexis? Alexis? Are you all right? Did you say your daughter ate her own fingers?”
“Yes! She ate them down to the bone! Three of them! She’s raiding the refrigerator right now! What’s wrong with her?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe it’s some extreme type of binge-eating disorder coupled with dermatophagia. Has she ever eaten her own skin before to your knowledge?”
“No. I’d never allow such a horrible thing. What’s dermatophagia?”
“The eating of one’s own skin. It can be symptoms of a number of different things, but rarely is it caused by hunger. Stress is a major cause. Many victims feel stress and picking and eating their own skin is a form of self-soothing. Self-image issues are another of the main causes. They may pick their skin in the hopes of correcting some perceived irregularity in their complexion, though they invariably end up making themselves look worse. Skin-picking may also provide needed stimulation for the nervous system when someone is bored or under-stimulated.”
“You didn’t hear me. She didn’t just chew on her skin. She ate her own damn fingers and she did it because she was hungry! What the hell is wrong with her?”
There was a pause. She heard the doctor clear his throat.
“Self-cannibalism, autosarcophagy, is pretty rare. I’ve never encountered a true case of it myself, though I have read about it. A Chilean artist named Marco Evaristti held a dinner party for a few of his close friends back in 1996 and served a pasta dish with meatballs made from beef and his own belly fat extracted during a liposuction treatment. He claimed he did it as an artistic statement. That may or may not have been the symptom of a mental disorder. That same year, a deathrow inmate in Texas pulled out his eye and ate it. There was a pretty famous case of vorarephilia when a German man, Bernd Jürgen Brande, cut off and ate his own cooked penis before being killed and eaten by Armin Meiwes, the ‘Rotenburg Cannibal’, who also ate some of Brande’s cooked penis.”
Alexis gasped.
“That’s disgusting! Why the hell are you telling me all this? I need you to come over and take care of my little girl.”
“If she’s hurting herself, the best place for her is probably a hospital or a mental facility. Now, I can suggest a few places-“
“A nuthouse! You want me to put my little girl in an insane asylum?” Alexis asked with an exaggerated, theatrical tone of outrage.
“Not an asylum. A place where she can rest and be looked after where she won’t be able to hurt herself.”
“I-I don’t know. Do you really think that’s the
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