Self-injurious behavior is one of the most devastating behaviors exhibited by people with developmental disabilities. The most common forms of these behaviors include: head-banging, hand-biting, and excessive self-rubbing and scratching. There are many possible reasons why a person may engage in self-injurious behavior, ranging from biochemical to the social environment. This paper will discuss...

The 2 studies reported here use observational data from message boards to investigate how adolescents solicit and share information related to self-injurious behavior. Study 1 examines the prevalence and nature of these message boards, their users, and most commonly discussed topics. Study 2 was intended to explore the correlations between content areas raised for discussion. Both studies were ...

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (LNS), a rare inborn error of metabolism, is characterized by self-injurious behavior, which results in partial or total destruction of oral and perioral tissues and/ or fingers. Persistent self-injurious behavior (biting the fingers, hands, lips, and cheeks; banging the head or limbs) is a hallmark of the disease. Prevention of self-mutilation raises significant difficulti...

Objective: To study the prospective link between involvement in bullying (bully, victim, bully/victim), and subsequent suicide ideation and suicidal/self-injurious behavior, in preadolescent children in the United Kingdom. Method: A total of 6,043 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort were assessed to ascertain involvement in bullying between 4 and 10 y...

BACKGROUND Two treatments for smoking cessation--varenicline and bupropion--carry Boxed Warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about suicidal/self-injurious behavior and depression. However, some epidemiological studies report an increased risk in smoking or smoking cessation independent of treatment, and differences between drugs are unknown. METHODOLOGY From the FDA's Adv...

Volume 83, Number 5 www.aafp.org/afp American Family Physician 609 Case Scenario A 16-year-old girl with no remarkable medical history presented to my clinic for a routine well-adolescent appointment. During the visit, I discovered multiple well-healed linear scars on her upper arms and legs. When I questioned her about these lesions, she admitted to cutting herself during the past several mont...

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) or self-mutilating behavior (SMB) is rare but can occur in temporal lobe epilepsy. Such a behavior during seizures is not usually recalled by patient. Here is a case with self mutilating behavior in left temporal lobe epilepsy, presented because of its rare manifestation and diagnostic dilemma. A 19 year old unmarried Muslim student presented to emergency with SMB,...

Self-injurious behavior is commonly observed among persons with intellectual disabilities. However, a second parallel use of this term is used in the general mental health field for self-mutilation. The authors describe these two disorders and how they differ. Characteristics of what we refer to as repetitive self-injurious behavior among persons with intellectual disabilities and risk factors ...

This investigation explored the psychological characteristics of self-injury, as well as the frequency of self-injury in a college sample. Two hundred and twenty individuals who self-injure were recruited from a self-help website. These were compared to college students who were not specifically seeking help for self-injury. It was found that 20% of the college students reported having self-inj...