SAO PAULO: Police in Brazil said they had freed a 45-year-old woman who had been locked in a house for 20 years with no communication with the outside world.
Police in the state of Parana yesterday said that the woman was locked in the home by her partner, a 60-year-old man, in the city of Mariluz, 550 kilometers (340 miles) from the state capital Curitiba.
Following a complaint by social workers, police arrived at the house to find it closed but heard the voice of a woman who appeared to be calling for help, a police statement said.
Police Lieutenant Denis Wellington Viana said the woman told a psychologist later that "she was prohibited from any form of communication" and had to perform household chores.
In the complaint, "the assistant told the police that a person was kept imprisoned for 20 years and was going through health problems, since she was banned from medical supervision," said Viana.
The news came just a week after Brazilian authorities released a mentally disturbed woman imprisoned in her husband's squalid cellar for eight years in another part of Brazil.
Showing posts with label mad world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mad world. Show all posts
Monday, 14 February 2011
US girl eats five soaps a week
LONDON: A 19-year-old girl in the US is getting treatment for her addiction of eating soaps and detergent powders.
Tempestt Henderson, from Florida, eats up to five bars of soap a week and washing powder as well, the Daily Mail reported here.
According to doctors, the toxic compulsion is a rare medical condition, PICA, which causes an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive.
People suffering form PICA have been known to compulsively eat metal, coins, chalk, batteries and toothbrushes. It can often be caused by a mineral deficiency, which explains why pregnant women often crave eating coal when needing iron.
"In the shower, I like to lather up a green bar of soap, and lick the bubbles. And as the soap disintegrates, I pop a tiny amount of the soap into my mouth and suck it. It's heavenly," she was quoted as saying.
"I love the clean feeling it gives me. Eating soap feels so much cleaner than just washing with it."
The doctor gave Tempestt intensive Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), to give her replacement thoughts that will prevent her from compulsively reaching for soap.
"I'm learning to think about positive things when I feel I need to eat soap," she said.
She has also been encouraged to go for long walks, avoiding places where soap is present, like bathrooms and laundrettes.
According to psychologists, Tempestt most likely turned to soap eating as a comforting coping mechanism when she found herself away from her family.
Tempestt Henderson, from Florida, eats up to five bars of soap a week and washing powder as well, the Daily Mail reported here.
According to doctors, the toxic compulsion is a rare medical condition, PICA, which causes an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive.
People suffering form PICA have been known to compulsively eat metal, coins, chalk, batteries and toothbrushes. It can often be caused by a mineral deficiency, which explains why pregnant women often crave eating coal when needing iron.
"In the shower, I like to lather up a green bar of soap, and lick the bubbles. And as the soap disintegrates, I pop a tiny amount of the soap into my mouth and suck it. It's heavenly," she was quoted as saying.
"I love the clean feeling it gives me. Eating soap feels so much cleaner than just washing with it."
The doctor gave Tempestt intensive Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), to give her replacement thoughts that will prevent her from compulsively reaching for soap.
"I'm learning to think about positive things when I feel I need to eat soap," she said.
She has also been encouraged to go for long walks, avoiding places where soap is present, like bathrooms and laundrettes.
According to psychologists, Tempestt most likely turned to soap eating as a comforting coping mechanism when she found herself away from her family.
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