Carphologia is a lint-picking behavior that is often a symptom of a delirious state

Delirium

Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...

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Often seen in delirious or semiconscious patients, carphologia describes the actions of picking or grasping at imaginary objects, as well as the patient's own clothes or bed linens

Bedding

Bedding refers to the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, to protect the mattress, and for decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environment. It is more easily and economically replaced than the bed itself...

. This can be a grave symptom in cases of extreme exhaustion or approaching death.

Etymology

The word carphology is derived from the ancient Greek "" (karphologia), as a compound of the two Greek elements: "καρφος" (karphos, "straw"), and "λεγειν" (legein), here in its sense of "to collect" rather than the more usual sense of "to say, profess". Thus, carphology literally means "to behave as though one were collecting straw". This refers to the involuntary picking or grasping movements sometimes seen in delirious patients in exhaustion, stupor, or high fever.

Synonyms

The Latin equivalent is floccillation which derives from , "a piece of wool or straw". The late Latin crocydismus, still used in continental European psychiatry, is also synonymous and derived from the ancient Greek "κροκύς" (krokus, "bit of fluff" or "dust"). It appears first in the writings of Aretaeus

Aretaeus of Cappadocia

Aretaeus , is one of the most celebrated of the ancient Greek physicians, of whose life, however, few particulars are known. There is some uncertainty regarding both his age and country, but it seems probable that he practised in the 1st century CE, during the reign of Nero or Vespasian...

 and later of Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

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