Definition
Coprophagia is an abnormal behavior characterized by a tendency to deliberately eat one's own or other people's feces.
This pathological manifestation can be found in psychotic patients or those suffering from some serious dementia. In such contexts, the need to ingest the fecal material indicates a regression towards earlier stages of mental development. Coprophagia is also rarely observed in schizophrenia and Prader-Willi syndrome.
Sometimes, coprophagia can be interpreted as paraphilia, so it belongs to the realm of sexual psychopathology. For the subjects that manifest this perversion, the excrements cause excitement and their ingestion can arouse pleasure, as the erogenous zone represented by the mouth is stimulated.
Possible Causes * of Coprophagy
- Schizophrenia
- Prader-Willi syndrome
