1. Foam Rubber Pica and Cautopyreiophagia in a Highly Educated Woman: A Clinical Case Study
- Author
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Kelsey McVey, Tammy Donohue, Eitan Kimchi, Una D. McCann, Taylor Wasserstein, Michael J. Van Wert, Jefferson Curry, and Naomi Goldstick Rosner
- Subjects
050103 clinical psychology ,Intensive outpatient program ,medicine.medical_specialty ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Mental health ,03 medical and health sciences ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,0302 clinical medicine ,Foam rubber ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Pica (disorder) ,Clinical case ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Psychiatry ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Pica, the developmentally and culturally-inappropriate eating of non-nutritive and non-food substances, is most often documented in people with developmental disabilities and children, frequently in institutional and residential settings. To date, there are no randomized clinical trials on pica-specific treatments, and very little literature is available regarding the characteristics or treatment of pica in adults with no intellectual or social deficits, and co-morbid disorders. This case study addresses this gap, and involves a highly educated 30 year-old American woman with foam rubber pica and burned match consumption (cautopyreiophagia) behaviors, along with co-morbid depressive, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, who received treatment in a general intensive outpatient program for adults in a large urban community psychiatry setting. The case study describes how the Biosocial Theory and Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change were used to conceptualize this woman’s symptoms and guide a treatment team of clinicians who did not specialize in pica. Providers in non-specialty clinic settings would benefit from reflecting on ways to adapt evidence-based techniques to the treatment of uncommon symptoms.
- Published
- 2021