[BlackVeil]

One can see the link with eating disorders, as well.

I wonder if, in some communities in the past, people suffering from this type of thing might have been seen as religious ascetics, rather than as ill or self-destructive. People who starved, lashed and even burnt themselves were sometimes defined as holy. Most of them probably were, but some may have been acting out this type of compulsion.

[tiamat]

I think you are onto something.

Tia

[cyborg]

it was called being scrupulous in the early church... religious ascetics were famous for committing all manner of horrifying acts of self mutilation.