Couch-eating addiction

As usual, every word is subject to analysis.

'Couch': when Ashley first mentioned this, I saw a WHOLE couch: upholstery, springs, buttons.  Nope; it's a lot less strange (though still strange).  She eats the foam, and she seems to like natural latex (not urethane or PVC) which is more or less 'digestable.'  It's not exactly food, but not like eating plastic.

'Eating': she nibbles.  It look a good deal more like a nervous, perseverated behavior (though she does have a taste for 'the darker' oxidized foam).  She hides her behavior--like an anorexic or bulemic.

Addiction: remember that this is a representation on TLC; it's made into a story, and like Latour's science articles, tied back to familiar ideas and constructs.  Here: a disorder (addiction), read through the lens of psychoanalysis / psychology.  THe ending summary shows us her stats: parents divorced @ 10; she's been eating since then.

What's not said:  'semantic contagion': a cousin showed her how.  'Race': African American woman, and pica (mud and starch eating; thanks Erin) shows up predominantly in that community.  First shots at explaining it went to genetics (since black New Orleans and Haitian people practiced it a lot, maybe there was a genetic link.  Nope.)

Good case.  Here's the URL to watch it.  Thanks Jared.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/woman-addicted-eating-couch-cushions_n_812003.html