Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-17T15:15:52.636Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Pica: Symptom or Eating Disorder? A Historical Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

B. Parry-Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Glasgow, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ
W. Ll. Parry-Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Glasgow, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ
*
Correspondence

Abstract

In DSM–III–R, pica, with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and rumination disorder of infancy, is accorded the status of a separate eating disorder. However, in the Draft of ICD–10, only anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are listed under eating disorders. Pica in children, and feeding disorder in infancy and childhood, are incorporated with enuresis, encopresis, and feeding, movement and speech disorders in a separate “heterogeneous group of disorders”. Extensive research on the history and terminology of eating disorders from the 16th to the 20th century suggests that, historically, pica was regarded as a symptom of other disorders rather than a separate entity. This paper aimed to locate and assess chronologically significant definitions and accounts of pica, to provide a fuller clinical description of a condition which, despite its current relevance, has received little detailed historical examination, and to give some consideration to the multiple aetiological theories which have been put forward. The historical findings are related to the descriptive criteria for pica in DSM–III–R and Draft ICD–10.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1992 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alberti, M. (1727) Tentamen Lexici Realis Observationum Medicarum Ex Variis Authoribus Selectarum. Magdeburg.Google Scholar
Allbutt, T. C. (ed.) (1897 & 1898) A System of Medicine by Many Writers. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Annotation (1959) Aetiology of pica. Lancet, ii, 281.Google Scholar
Anonymous (1894) Polyphagism and bulimy. Lancet, i, 11471148.Google Scholar
Bancroft, J., Cook, A. & Williamson, L. (1988) Food craving, mood and the menstrual cycle. Psychological Medicine, 18, 855860.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blancard, S. (1701) Opera Medico Theoretica, Practica et Chirurgica. Leyden.Google Scholar
Bond, D. F. (ed.) (1965) The Spectator (4, letter 431). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Brumberg, J. J. (1982) Chlorotic girls, 1870–1920: a historical perspective on female adolescence. Child Development, 53, 14681477.Google Scholar
Callinan, V. & O'Hare, J. A. (1988) Cardboard chewing: cause and effect of iron-deficiency anaemia. American Journal of Medicine, 85, 449.Google Scholar
Carlander, O. (1959) Aetiology of pica. Lancet, ii, 569.Google Scholar
Cautley, E. (1910) The Diseases of Infants and Children. London: Shaw & Sons.Google Scholar
Champier, S. (1508) De Triplici Disciplina Cuius Partes Sunt. Philosophia Naturalis, Medicina, Theologia. Lyons.Google Scholar
Chandra, P. & Rosner, F. (1973) Olives craving in iron deficiency. Annals of Internal Medicine, 73, 973974.Google Scholar
Christian, H. A. (1903) A sketch of the history of the treatment of chlorosis with iron. Medical Library and Historical Journal, 1, 176180.Google Scholar
Cohausen, J. H. (1716) Dissertatio Satyrica Physico-Medico – Moralis de Pica Nasi Tabaci Sternutatorii Moderno Abusu et Noxa. Amsterdam: J. Oosterwik.Google Scholar
Coltman, C. A. Jr. (1969) Pagophagia and iron lack. Journal of the American Medical Association, 207, 513516.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, M. (1957) Pica: A Survey of the Historical Literature as well as Reports from the Fields of Veterinary Medicine and Anthropology, the Present Study of Pica in Young Children, and a Discussion of its Pediatric and Psychological Implications. Springfield, Illinois: C. C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Copland, J. (1858) A Dictionary of Practical Medicine (3 vols). London: Longman Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts.Google Scholar
Crosby, W. H. (1971) Food pica and iron deficiency. Archives of Internal Medicine, 127, 960961.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crosby, W. H. (1976) Pica: a compulsion caused by iron deficiency. British Journal of Haematology, 34, 341342.Google Scholar
Crosby, W. H. (1982) Clay ingestion and iron deficiency anaemia. Annals of Internal Medicine, 97, 456.Google Scholar
De Castro, J. (1952) Geography of Hunger. Boston: Little.Google Scholar
De Silva, R. A. (1974) Eating cigarette ashes in anemia. Annals of Internal Medicine, 80, 115116.Google Scholar
Dover, T. (1742) The Ancient Physician's Legacy to his Country Being What he has Collected Himself in Fifty-eight Years Practice. London: printed by H. Kent, for C. Hitch.Google Scholar
Du Bartas, G. de S. (1611) Du Bartas his Devine Weekes and Workes Translated by Joshua Sylvester. Now Thirdly Corrected and Augmented. London: H. Lownes.Google Scholar
Duprey, A. J. B. (1900) The anaemia of dyspepsia consequent on dirt-eating. Lancet, ii, 11921193.Google Scholar
Edwards, C. H., McDonald, S., Mitchell, M. D., et al (1959) Clay and cornstarch eating women. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 35, 810815.Google Scholar
Encyclopaedia Perthensis or Universal Dictionary of Knowledge (1807) XIV. Perth: C. Mitchel & Company.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, V. F., Fahey, J. G. & Beutler, E. (1971) Clinical Disorders of Iron Metabolism. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Forestus, P. (1606) Observationum et Curationum Medicialium. Libri XXVIII. Raphaelengius.Google Scholar
Gale, T. (1563) An Excellent Treatise of Wounds made with Gonneshot. London: R. Hall.Google Scholar
Gelfand, M. C., Zarate, A. & Knepshield, J. H. (1975) Geophagia. A cause of life-threatening hyperkalemia in patients with chronic renal failure. Journal of the American Medical Association, 234, 738.Google Scholar
Glanville, B. de (1535) De Proprietatibus Rerum. Translated (1398) by Trevisa, J. London: T. Berthelet.Google Scholar
Gordon, R. G. (ed.) (1939) A Survey of Child Psychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, London: H. Milford.Google Scholar
Gould, G. M. & Pyle, W. L. (1898) Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine: London: Rebman Publishing Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Graham, T. J. (1840) Modern Domestic Medicine. London: Author.Google Scholar
Green, H. H. (1925) Perverted appetite. Physiological Review, 5, 336348.Google Scholar
Gutelius, M. F. (1969) Treatment of severe pica (geophagia) in persons in an underdeveloped area. Journal of the American Medical Association, 210, 1597.Google Scholar
Haden, R. L. (1938) Historical aspects of iron therapy in anemia. Journal of the American Medical Association, 111, 10591061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haller, J. S. Jr. (1972) The negro and the southern physician: A study of medical and racial attitudes 1800–1860. Medical History, 16, 238253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halliwell, J. O. (1989) Dictionary of Archaic Words. London: Bracken Books.Google Scholar
Harland, M. (1882) Eve's Daughters; or Commonsense for Maid, Wife and Mother. New York: J. R. Anderson & H. S. Allen.Google Scholar
Haubrich, W. S. (1984) Medical Meanings. A Glossary of Word Origins. San Diego/New York/London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Havers, G. & Davies, J. (1665) Another Collection of Philosophical Conferences of the French Virtuosi, upon Questions of All Sorts; for the Improving of Natural Knowledg. London: T. Dring & J. Starkey.Google Scholar
Hoblyn, R. D. (1892) A Dictionary of Terms used in Medicine and the Collateral Sciences. London: Whittaker & Co.Google Scholar
Hochstein, G. (1968) Pica: a study in medical and anthropological explanation. In Essays in Medical Anthropology (ed. Weaver, T.), pp. 8896. Athens, Georgia: Southern Anthropological Society.Google Scholar
Holt, L. E. & McIntosh, R. (1933) Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. New York: Appleton Century.Google Scholar
Hooper, R. (1811) Quincy's Lexicon – Medicum. A New Medical Dictionary. London: Hurst, Rees, Orme & Co.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. P. (1977) The biography of disease: lessons from chlorosis. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 51, 448463.Google Scholar
Hunter, R. & Macalpine, I. (1970) Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry, 1535–1860. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Illingworth, R. S. (1987) The Normal Child. Some Problems of the Early Years and Their Treatment (9th edn.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Johnson, B. E. & Stephens, R. L. (1982) Geomelophagia. An unusual pica in iron-deficiency anemia. American Journal of Medicine, 73, 931932.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1947) Child Psychiatry. Springfield, Illinois: C. C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1955) Child psychiatry (2nd edn). Springfield, Illinois: C. C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Kellogg, T. H. (1897) A Text-book of Mental Diseases. London: J. & A. Churchill.Google Scholar
Kinnell, H. G. (1985) Pica as a feature of autism. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 8082.Google Scholar
Lange, J. (1589) Epistolarum Medicinalium Volumen Tripartitum. Frankfurt: A. Wechel.Google Scholar
Liébault, J. (1582) Trois Libres Appartenant aux Infirmitez et Maladies des Femmes. Translated in 17th century (Gent, W. H.) as “Gods second maisterpeece the weoman Described with all those peculiar diseases of weoman not common with the Man. Ferst written in Latine by that learned and famous physitian of Paris Mr John Libavius, since translated into French. And now newly translated out of French into English for the use and benefite of all weomen.” Hunterian manuscript U.6.21. Department of Special Collections, Glasgow University Library.Google Scholar
Loudon, I. S. L. (1980) Chlorosis, anaemia and anorexia nervosa. British Medical Journal, 281, 16691675.Google Scholar
Macbride, D. (1772) A Methodical Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Physic. London.Google Scholar
Marks, J. W. (1973) Lettuce craving and iron deficiency. Annals of Internal Medicine, 79, 612.Google Scholar
Mason, D. (1833) On atrophia a ventriculo (Mal d'Estomac). Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, 39, 289296.Google Scholar
Mayne, R. G. (1860) Expository Lexicon of the Terms, Ancient and Modern, in Medical and General Science. London: John Churchill.Google Scholar
McLoughlin, I. J. (1987) The picas. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 37, 286290.Google Scholar
McLoughlin, I. J. (1988) Pica as a cause of death in three mentally handicapped men. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 842845.Google Scholar
McLoughlin, I. J. & Hassanyeh, F. (1990) Pica in a patient with anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 568570.Google Scholar
Miller, D. R. & Baehner, R. L. (1990) Blood Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. St Louis: The CV Mosby Company.Google Scholar
Mitchell, W. M. (1968) Pica in adults. California Medicine, 109, 156158.Google Scholar
Moffett, T. (1655) Health's Improvement: or, Rules Comprising and Discovering the Nature, Method and Manner of Preparing all Sorts of Food used in this Nation. Corrected and enlarged by Bennett, C. London: T. Newcomb for S. Thomson.Google Scholar
Motherby, G. (1785) A New Medicinal Dictionary or General Repository of Physic. London: J. Johnson & J. Robinson.Google Scholar
Mustacchi, P. (1971) Cesare Bressa (1785–1836) on dirt-eating in Louisiana. A critical analysis of his unpublished manuscript “De la dissolution scorbutique”. Journal of the American Medical Assocation, 218, 229232.Google Scholar
O'Brien, G. & Whitehouse, A. M. (1990) A psychiatric study of deviant eating behaviour among mentally handicapped adults. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 281284.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary (1961) Oxford: Clarendon Press. Parry-Jones, B. (1991) Historical terminology of eating disorders. Psychological Medicine, 21, 2128.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary (1992) Pagophagia, or compulsive ice consumption: a historical perspective. Psychological Medicine (in press).Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary & Parry-Jones, W. Ll. (1991). Bulimia: an archival review of its history in psychosomatic medicine. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 10, 129143.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary, Parry-Jones, W. Ll. (1993) Fashions in Fasting: A Historical View of Self-inflicted Starvation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (in press).Google Scholar
Peirce, R. (1697) Bath Memoirs: or, Observations in Three and Forty Years Practice at the Bath, What Cures Have Been There Wrought, (Both by Bathing and Drinking These Waters) by God's Blessing, on the Directions of Robert Peirce, Dr In Physick. Bristol: H. Hammond.Google Scholar
Phillips, E. (1671) The New World of Words, or a General English Dictionary. London: N. Brook.Google Scholar
Prasad, A. S., Halsted, J. A. & Nadimi, M. (1961) Syndrome of iron deficiency anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, hypogonadism, dwarfism and geophagia. American Journal of Medicine, 31, 532546.Google Scholar
Primrose, J. (1651) Popular Errours or the Errours of the People in Matter of Physick (translated to English by Wittie, R.). London: printed by Willson, W. for Bourne, N. Google Scholar
Rees, A. (ed.) (1819) The Cyclopaedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Science and Literature. London: Longman, Rees, Orme & Brown.Google Scholar
Reynolds, R. D., Binder, H. J., Miller, M. B., et al (1968) Pagophagia and iron deficiency anemia. Annals of Internal Medicine, 69, 435440.Google Scholar
Riverius, L. (1640) Praxis Medica (translated (1655) by Culpeper, N., Cole, A. & Rowland, W. as The Practice of Physick, in Seventeen Several Books. London: P. Cole). Cited in Fairbanks et al (1971).Google Scholar
Schwarz, E. (1951) Chlorosis: A Retrospective Investigation. Brussels: Presses Imprimerie Medicate et Scientifique.Google Scholar
Sheldon, W. (1946) Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. London: J. & A. Churchill Ltd.Google Scholar
Smart, B. H. (1846) Walker Remodelled. Smart's Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language. London: Longman, Brown & Co.Google Scholar
Still, G. F. (1924) Common Disorders and Diseases of Childhood (4th edn). London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. (1895) On pica or dirt-eating children. Edinburgh Hospital Reports, 3, 8194.Google Scholar
Trousseau, A. (1872) Lectures on Clinical Medicine Delivered at the Hôtel-Dieu, Paris. London: New Sydenham Society.Google Scholar
Van Swieten, G. (1744) The Commentaries upon the Aphorisms of Dr Herman Boerhaave. London: J. & P. Knapton.Google Scholar
Whytt, R. (1765) Observations on the Nature, Causes, and Cure of those Disorders which have been Commonly called Nervous, Hypochondriac, or Hysteric. Edinburgh: Printed for T. Becket, and P. Du Hondt, London; and J. Balfour, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Witts, L. J. (1936) Therapeutic value of iron. Lancet, i, 15.Google Scholar
Woodward, J. (1757) Select Cases, and Consultations, in Physik. By the Late Eminent John Woodward … Now First Published by Dr. Peter Templeman. London: Davis & Reymers.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1989) Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases Chapter V (F): Mental and Behavioural Disorders (Including Disorders of Psychological Development). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Youdim, M. B. (1977) Pica hypothesis. British Journal of Haematology, 36, 298.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.