Who Am I? What is PICA?

Hello! So for anyone reading this blog that isn't in Intro to Developmental Disabilities class with the best professor at NCC, my name is Gillian. I am 18 years old (19 in a couple of weeks!) and I am currently a student at Nassau Community College. For one of our projects the assignment is to create a blog based on any subject related to the field we are studying. I chose to research PICA. According to the medical dictionary, PICA is "the persistent craving and compulsive eating of nonfood substances. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, classifies it as a feeding and eating disorder of childhood." So basically, it is an eating disorder in which a person will eat many non-edible substances from chalk to light bulbs instead of food. It is extremely dangerous and develops within the first month a baby is born. Personally, I was not aware of what PICA was until I saw it featured on a True Life segment on MTV. It is a very interesting topic that not many people are informed about so in this blog I am going to share a bunch of intriguing videos, articles, links, and information on PICA. Hope you enjoy it!! :)