Pica: Eating Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
March 11, 2016
Ruth Kang
In this day and age, around 10-15% of all Americans experience some type of significant eating disorder (“Eating Disorder Statistics” 1). The rate of expansion concerning new cases of eating disorders has increased significantly since 1950, including a undervalued disorder called pica. Pica is a disorder that causes an individual to have certain cravings for items that are not necessarily food. People diagnosed with this condition usually desire items such as: dirt, rocks, ice, and lead (“Prevalence vs. Funding” 1). Additionally, an abundance of people starting to acknowledge pica as an eating disorder; however, there are still individuals who believe that it would be more accurate to classify this condition as an obsessive compulsive disorder.
Many people do not know how common pica disorder is because most individuals find it shameful to talk about. Pica derives its name from the Latin word magpie, which is a bird that is well-known to eat almost anything and everything available to it. The first case of pica occurred in 6th century AD, in which it was diagnosed in a pregnant woman. Although the first case was noted within the 6th century, it has not been mentioned within medical texts until the late 1500s. The main reason why the condition was not put into medical work until much later is because there was a tremendous absence of cultural recognition for pica-- that it ultimately just made it appear like a new phenomenon. This illness was classified more as a symptom for other kinds of disorders rather than being its own condition during the 16th to the 20th century. Currently, two hundred cultures worldwide normally demonstrate pica during circumstances such as: religious ceremonies, healing in general, and for medicinal purposes (Pica Disorder” 1).
Today, there are many controversies about whether pica is a eating or an obsessive compulsive disorder. One group believes that pica should be classified as an eating disorder because it ultimately is just the constant eating of non-food items with no nutritional values whatsoever, such as: dirt, chalk, clay and rocks. They do, however, acknowledge that pica could come from mental-health conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, or schizophrenia. On the other side there are a handful of mental health professionals that strongly believe that pica is a symptom that comes from obsessive compulsive disorder (“A Little Known Eating Disorder” 3). Why do they think this? Mainly because the mental health experts feel as if the patients diagnosed with pica have no power to stop a behavior that they know is a bit off, or potentially dangerous. Either way, the condition deserves recognition and the patients deserve treatment.
Ultimately, pica should be classified as its own eating disorder, opposed to just categorizing it as a type of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This is appropriate because pica is not just simply a behavior, and it is pretty different from OCD itself. Pica makes an individual crave certain items, and usually brings immediate relief once the person intakes the substance that they are craving. Obsessive compulsive disorder on the other hand is described as grasping onto unreasonable ponders and worries that lead oneself to repeat themselves more than once. The main difference is that people diagnosed with pica do not have a fear of anything. They simply just get strong cravings for non-item foods which makes pica not the same as obsessive compulsive disorder. However, it would make sense for this illness to be classified as an eating disorder because it is a serious condition, in which persistent eating patterns are found to impact one’s health, emotions, and ability to function negatively (Harris 1).
Pica disorder is an extremely significant, yet interesting subject to research further about. It is especially important to know about this illness because of the sudden growth of cases worldwide. For instance, within the last decade concerning the years between 1999 and 2009, hospitalizations for pica increased by 93% (“A Little Known Eating Disorder” 1). This condition is also interesting to research further about because although it is the most least known disorder, it is considered one of the weirdest conditions out there. This is simply because it is out of the norm to start craving rocks opposed to chocolate cheesecake. In addition, this illness would be interesting to learn more about because not even doctors know exactly why people get diagnosed with pica-- although, they think that malnutrition, pregnancy, and experimentation are the largest reasons for the diagnosis.
Essentially, there are several kinds of pica that affect people worldwide. For instance, there is a form of pica often referred to as pagophagia. This condition is a classification of pica, in which an individual intakes an excessive amount of ice. Usually people develop a craving for ice when they have iron deficiency. Another category within pica is called geophagy; most people with this illness tend to have a strong craving for nonfood items such as chalk, rocks, soil, etc (“10 Types of Pica” 1). Although all the different types of pica was foreign to most, thanks to the television series “My Strange Addictions” featured on the channel TLC, many of these abnormal behaviors were displayed and touched upon which familiarized many more people about pica. For instance, a 19-year-old teen named Brea, featured on My Strange Addictions-- had an addiction to eating sand (classified as geophagy). She got hooked with this non food item because of its crunchy texture and believes that something about it is mouthwatering. She was first introduced to eating sand when she accidently got it in her mouth in her childhood years. Disregarding that, there are many people like Brea featured on this show that happens to familiarize people with addictive behavior disorders like pica disorder (“Eating Sand” N/A).
Overall, although there are some controversies about whether pica is an eating or obsessive compulsive disorder-- one fact is certain. Pica would definitely be a topic that would capture and interest many individuals, mostly because of the peculiarness that lies within the disorder itself. Despite that, within this website, there are several more pieces of writings and research that can explain and explore the pica condition. There is anything from a blog post about a middle-aged man addicted to eating gravels, to an argumentative paper about the prejudices against those suffering from this disorder,the goal is to raise awareness and to help prevent the stigma for those suffering from Pica. Interested? Make sure to look, click, and scroll around and see if anything captures your attention!
WORKS CITED
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"A Little Known Eating Disorder Is on the Rise." Psychology Today. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
Chakraborty, Suddhendu, D. Sanyal, and R. Bhattacharyya. "A Unique Case of Pica of Adult Onset
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"Eating Disorders." Overview. Mayoclinic, 2016. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
"Eating Sand | My Strange Addiction." TLC. Youtube, 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.
Harris, Neil. "Neil's Guide to Pica." NPH of RPH. Tumblr, 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 05 Mar. 2016.
"Pica Disorder." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
"Prevalence vs. Funding." Get The Facts On Eating Disorders. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
"South Carolina Department of Mental Health." Eating Disorder Statistics. DMH, 2006. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.