Definition and Description Pica is the ingestion of nonnutritive items for an amount of time longer than a month, which is out of place for the person 's developmental age, not culturally practiced to consume that item, and involves clinical attention (Hagopian, Rooker, and Rolider, 2011). Because of the definition, pica is known as a feeding problem, nutritional deficiency, and/or an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (Bryant-Waugh, Markham, Kreipe, and Walsh, 2010). Pica is a self-injurious behavior that can cause high-risk medical issues, including parasites, led poisoning, intestinal blockage, and surgery from a blockage (Ferreri, 2006). Sturmey & Didden (2014) define the term "self-injurious behavior" as intentional harm to one 's body that is severe enough to damage tissue without the help from another person. There are less dangerous health risks that can be associated with pica that include nutritional deficiencies, oral and/or dental problems, irritable bowels, enlarged colon and constipation (Call, Simmions, Mevers, and Alvarez, 2015). This eating behavior continues to occur because of automatic reinforcement (Sturmey & Didden, 2014). Cosgrave (2016) defines automatic reinforcement as the reinforcement that occurs from the direct person completing the action without the involvement of another …show more content…
(2015), diagnoses of Pica can "occur across gender, age, race, socioeconomic status, and geographic region." The difficulty with finding the prevalence of pica occurs because, in most cases, pica is explained when there has been a serious medical consequence (Delaney, Eddy, Hartmann, Becker, Murray, and Thomas, 2015). Approximately 25-45% of typically developing children and up to 80% of children who have a developmental delay report to have a feeding problem (Bryant-Waugh et al. 2010). Kahn and Tisman (2010) found that people with pica are often secretive with their habits due to the shaming brought on society for the
Bulimia nervosa is another eating disorder that includes a behavior pattern of alternating extreme bingeing, or overeating, with self-induced vomiting, fasting or abuse of laxatives or diuretics. Eating in a short period of time and having a sense o...
Pica is, for the most part, defined as the desire to consume non-nutritive substances. However, it can also cover an abnormal appetite for food ingredients and sometimes even the mouthing of substances of a non-nutritional nature as well. Though in order for this behavior to be considered pica, it must occur for an amount of time equal to or greater than one month at an age where it would be considered developmentally inappropriate, which would be greater than 18-24 months old. Unfortunately there are no known causes of pica so it’s virtually impossible to get a full grasp on the disorder but there have been some hypotheses as to why it occurs.
(NEDA). The term “Anorexia Nervosa” literally means “neurotic loss of appetite”, and could be more generally defined as the result of prolonged self-starvation and an unhealthy relationship between food and self-image. It is characterized by “resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height”, “intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”, even though underweight”, “disturbance in the experience of body weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight”, and “loss of menstrual periods in girls and women post-puberty”. (NEDA) Among women in the range of 15 to 24 years old, AN has been patients, 1 in every 5 is caused by suicide, which gives a rise of 20% in suicide probability. (EDV)
Smolak, Linda, Michael P. Levine, and Ruth Striegel-Moore. "Media as Context." The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders: Implications for Research, Prevention, and Treatment. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1996. 235-53. Print.
The three most commonly known eating disorders of today are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Anorexia nervosa is a disease connected with abnormal eating; it is not brought on by excitement, delusions, overactivity or a bad habit, it is a mental illness. Development of anorexia usually starts in the early teenage years, however it can go undiagnosed for thirty to even forty plus years. Another eating disorder is bulimia, people who are bulimic have no time to think about daily life; all that is on there mind is their next meal. Someone who has bulimia often l...
"Prevalence vs. Funding". Get The Facts On Eating Disorders. NEDA. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. .
In some cases, it will result in developing an eating disorder.
Ward, Christie L. Compulsive Eating: The Struggle to Feed the Hunger Inside. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY. 1998.
Drinking alcohol at hazardous level may cause depression among youth people. Alcohol significantly worsen the symptoms of depression
Food rituals to eat less, such as eating in secret, Eating foods in a certain order, excessive chewing, playing with food, and eating unnaturally small amounts of food
Eating disorders are a serious health problem. Personal Counseling & Resources says that eating disorders "are characterized by a focus on body shape, weight, fat, food, and perfectionism and by feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem." Three of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating or compulsive eating disorder. According to Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, a person with anorexia "refuses to maintain normal body weight for age and height" and "weighs 85 percent or less than what is what is expected for age and height." A person diagnosed with bulimia has several ways of getting rid of the calories such as binge eating, vomiting, laxative misuse, exercising, or fasting. The person might have a normal weight for their age and height unless anorexia is present. The signs of a compulsive eater include eating meals frequently, rapidly, and secretly. This person might also snack and nibble all day long. The compulsive eater tends to have a history of diet failures and may be depressed or obese (Anred.com).
Exposure to disordered feeding styles manifest physical and emotional effects. BN and BED mothers had children with higher weight-for-age. Although a general finding was that the children of mothers with eating disorder weighed less than controls and this was related to the amount of mealtime conflict.13 Subjects with BN had a birth weight below the 10th percentile significantly more often than controls, 30% vs 17%, respectively, as well as a birth length below the 10th percentile significantly more often than controls 17% vs 9%, respectively, and subjects with AN 17% vs 6%,
Reinforcement is a motivation which depends upon a performance and increases the chance of a performance being frequent. Positive reinforcement can increase the chance of not only necessary behavior but also unwanted behavior. For example, if a student complaints in order to get attention and is successful in getting it, the attention helps as positive reinforcement which increases the possibility that the student will remain to complain. Positive reinforcement is one of the important ideas in behavior inquiry and it is something like rewards, or things usually work to get (Fahimafridi, 2016).
In conclusion, society views the consumption of non-food items to be abnormal even if the item is dirt or a battery and the variety of items people with a pica disease can vary by that much. There are a multitude of diseases and illnesses that someone who eats non-food items on a regular basis can contract and many of them are life threatening. At the same time however it should not be as frowned upon for children to eat dirt due to the benefits it can provide them later in life with a stronger immune system. Pica diseases appear to be a combination of innate urges, psychological disorders and the social environment surrounding a person.
Diet has stated that “Individual, social, cultural, religious, economic, … all influence people’s eating habits.”(1). Studies show that social, religious, economic factors have a large impact on a person’s nutritional status. Studies also have shown that social factors has led to disorders that affect a person’s nutritional status, as well as economic, religious factors, and lack of exercise. The nutritional status of a person refers to the status of a person’s health in terms of the nutrients in his or her body. Anorexia, which is a disorder in which a person lacks or loses their appetite, is considered a mental condition. Binging is the actual action taken by a person to force themselves to throw up what they eat in order to not gain weight. These conditions affect a person’s nutritional state greatly. A person’s nutritional state can be affected through religious practices, social customs, economic factors, and lack of exercise.