mental the z’s

 hello! It is BMD here coming at you with another action project. this unit around, we did one about mental illnesses. I decided to choose Pica because i wanted to learn more about something i wasnt familiar with. Pica is a tendency or craving to eat substances other than normal food (such as clay, plaster, or ashes), occurring during childhood or pregnancy, or as a symptom of disease. basically, it’s when someone wants to chew on or eat non food past the age where it’s normal to do that. Currently the causes aren't quite clear, but it has been linked to intellectual disabilities and iron deficiency. We had to make a poster about our chosen mental illness, here’s mine:

Also, we had to find a way to simulate what it’d be like to have Pica. Luckily, the national museum of Taipei has a great example in this:

Behold: The Meat Shaped Stone. It’s a stone that was carved to look like pork belly.

I think it looks pretty delicious. Now, to someone with pica, ALL rocks could look this delicious and irresistible. If I had a condition like that, I would be rather irritable and stressed about it.  

There’s also..

The Jadeite Cabbage.

The Jadeite cabbage is similar, however in my opinion it looks closer to the real thing than the previous rock. It serves a similar purpose, however nowadays there’s a good chunk of people who don't care for meat, so this one is for them.

                                                                            

So in conclusion, I think the hardest part about this project for me was finding Pica statistics. Because the statistics that exist are mostly considered inaccurate, most sources just didn’t have them. An easier part of this project was coming up with a way to demonstrate Pica, because I already knew of the Meat Shaped Stone.

sources:

“Prevalence of Pica in Preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Study to Explore Early Development - United States, 2008–2016.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26 Apr. 2019, www.cdc.gov/eis/conference/dpk/Prevalence_of_Pica_in_Preschoolers.html. 

“Pica Prevalance, Facts & Statistics: Pica & Co-Occurring Disorders.” The Recovery Village Drug and Alcohol Rehab, 3 May 2022, www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/pica/pica-statistics/. 

“Oxford Languages and Google - English.” Oxford Languages, languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/. 

“Selections.” 國立故宮博物院>Selections>, theme.npm.edu.tw/selection/Article.aspx?sNo=04001103&lang=2.