Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

STUDY OF AN ORAL FIXATION: PICA

1968; Yale University Press; Volume: 7; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0002-7138(09)61540-5

2376-614X

Frances K. Millican, Emma M. Layman, Reginald S. Lourie, Lily Y. Takahashi,

Therapeutic Uses of Natural Elements

This resea rch foc uses on the psychodynamics of pica in childre n, viewin g the symp tom as an oral fixation or regression, The possibility is presented that psychoan alyti c th eory may be val ida ted and perhaps extended by study ing childre n an d an alyzing th e dat a sta tistically. Altho ugh the in vestigative metho d used is n ot psychoanalysis, the psychoan alytic th eory of pe rsonality is the frame of reference. Pi ca is a depraved appe tite with r esultant ingestion of nonfood substances. Pi ca has been kn own since anc ien t tim es and fo und to occu r on every con ti nen t (An ell and Lagercrantz, 1958; Cooper, 1957 ; Lau fer, 1930). In th e United Sta tes a t present, pi ca occurs most fr equently among the low-income Negro and white populations, and some Indian tribes; it is not so prevalent in the upperan d middlein come whi te population (Cooper, 1957 ; Gardner and T evetoglu,