Department of Psychiatry, University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Shahdara, Delhi, India.
World J Biol Psychiatry. 2009;10(4 Pt 3):936-8. doi: 10.1080/15622970701308389.
Pica is a common disorder in childhood, however, in adults it is associated with mental retardation, psychosis and pregnancy. A few case reports have described it being associated with obsessive compulsive disorder in adults. We describe the case of an adult female patient who developed an impulse to ingest chalk only in stressful situations. These thoughts were ego-dystonic and kept on hammering her mind until she ate it. She was diagnosed as having Major Depressive Disorder with relational problems and pica. We prescribed her escitalopram with clonazepam and asked her to ventilate her feelings during stressful situations. Her depression improved within three weeks, with remarkable improvement in pica symptoms. We concluded that stress may induce the pica in some adults and that such feelings have impulsive/compulsive characters. In addition, appropriate management of stress may help to alleviate the symptoms of pica.
异食癖是一种常见的儿童疾病，但在成人中，它与智力迟钝、精神病和怀孕有关。有少数病例报告描述了它与成人强迫症有关。我们描述了一例成年女性患者，她仅在压力情况下产生吞食粉笔的冲动。这些想法是自我厌恶的，不断困扰着她，直到她吃了粉笔。她被诊断为伴有人际关系问题和异食癖的重度抑郁症。我们给她开了艾司西酞普兰和氯硝西泮，并要求她在压力情况下发泄自己的情绪。她的抑郁症状在三周内得到改善，异食癖症状明显改善。我们得出结论，压力可能会导致某些成年人产生异食癖，这种感觉具有冲动/强迫的特征。此外，适当管理压力可能有助于缓解异食癖的症状。
