Pica Eating Disorder - An Abnormal Appetite to Non-Nutritive Foods

The pica eating disorder, comparatively, is not equally familiar as bulimia, anorexia, compulsive or binge eating, rather it is included in a list of the most important such disorders. This article will make an effort to give details about the pica eating disorder, its causes and effects and its usual treatment.

Pica is a type of eating disorder, which is characterized by the eating of non-nutritive substances repeatedly for a period of atleast one month or may be longer. Basically, the disorder’s name “Pica” usually comes from the Latin version of “magpie”, a bird that is familiar with its capability and pleasure of consuming everything that it can.

The type of eating behavior in this bird is similar with the condition in pica sufferers and thus correlation between these two will form a need to eat non-nutritive foods including clay, paper, chalk, dirt, sand, stones, coal, soil, hair, feces, sponges and many more, and unprepared food items for instance flour, raw potatoes and the resembling.

The Causes of Pica Eating Disorder

Even though the etiology of pica is unfamiliar eating disorder, there are several assumptions that have been refined to provide details of the phenomenon, which ranges from psychosocial causes to causes of purely biochemical origin. Thus, the pica eating disorder causes are enormous and significantly vary from case to case.

The pica eating disorder can be caused also by health problems such as an addiction. Smokers who are suffering from the pica eating disorder and go through the treatment will always search for and masticate the cigarette but that usually other people throw, for the nicotine they contain.

It is also considered that pregnant women have a higher tendency to be afflicted with the Pica eating disorder, since pregnancy triggers strong cravings for gritty substances like flour, soil and the likes. This fact has not been thoroughly researched however, so this idea remains in theoretical concept.

The pica eating disorder is very common in children between the ages of 2 and 3, individual with mental retardation, as well as people with epilepsy. Also, pregnant women have a higher inclination to be distressed with the pica eating disorder, as pregnancy generates a strong desire for gritty substances like flour, soil and many more.

One more cause for developing the pica eating disorder is due to the deficiencies of some biochemical and minerals from the body and also due to stress. An individual with these types of deficiencies will have a tendency to find the lacking biochemical in the environments, all the way through a semi-unconscious process.

In most cases however, the unusual eating habits of sufferers do not give the particular elements that they are deficient, additionally they will damage the body of the sufferers.

In general, the pica eating disorder cannot be identified until the deficiency is addressed. And once the deficiency is identified immediately the sufferer should go for the treatment.

The Treatment And Medications Pica eating Disorder

The treatment for the pica eating disorder is many times tough to control, as the sufferers may have an extra developmental disorder or they may be too young for doctors to treat successfully as treating an adult.

Treatment usually needs psychosocial, environmental, and family guidance. Typically, if a sufferer of the pica eating disorder not succeeds in responding to standard psychiatric and dietary treatments, “aversion therapy” is used.

Aversion therapy involves combining the consumption of non-foods (Pica foods) with negative consequences and common behavior with good consequences. Even though this therapy method will be efficient and capable on a child or on a mentally unstable patient, if it is performed, may leave deeper injures in their psychological and emotional areas.

Thus, the pica eating disorder is very dangerous, especially for children. Most of the pica non-foods contain bacteria and poisonous substances that can be very damaging to their bodies and many times sufferers are unable to notice that they are doing wrong.

As a result they drive themselves all the way through a continuous poisoning process that can in due course be lethal, or may lead to severe damages to the brain and digestive system as well as decrease of the immune system