The sexual addiction model enables physicians to understand the self-destructive behavior of patients whose actions may otherwise appear inexplicable. When a person is preoccupied with sex and continues to engage in compulsive sexual activity despite adverse consequences (eg, loss of marriage, job, health, freedom), he or she is a sex addict. Treatment allows sex addicts to stop their compulsiv...

We evaluated the independent association between adaptive behavior, communication and repetitive or ritualistic behaviors and self-injury, aggression and destructive behavior to identify potential early risk markers for challenging behaviors. Data were collected for 943 children (4-18 years, M = 10.88) with severe intellectual disabilities. Odds ratio analyses revealed that these characteristic...

The results of functional analyses suggested that the destructive behavior of two individuals was sensitive to escape and attention as reinforcement. In an instructional context, we evaluated the effects of reinforcing compliance with functional reinforcers when destructive behavior produced a break. For one participant we also evaluated the effects of reinforcing compliance with functional rei...

Introduction: Children with atypical development often present behavior problems that impair their psychosocial adaptation. Objective: To describe the cultural adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese of the Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI-01), as well as preliminary indicators of instrument reliability and validity. Methods: The process involved translation, back-translation, and cultural adaptatio...

Background: Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has proven effective in reducing symptoms and behaviors related to Borderline Personality Disorder. More recently, it has been modified and applied to adolescents struggling with regulating their emotions and who may engage in impulsive, self-destructive behaviors, including nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, there is limited research evidenc...

In 34 years of psychiatric practice, no clinical problems have been more intriguing to me than underachievement and self-destructive behavior in exceptionally gifted adolescents and young adults. Early in my career as an associate clinical professor in Tufts University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, I was stimulated by the challenge of establishing a community-based mental healt...

Eight young children who displayed destructive behavior maintained, at least in part, by negative reinforcement received long-term functional communication training (FCT). During FCT, the children completed a portion of a task and then touched a communication card attached to a microswitch to obtain brief breaks. Prior to and intermittently throughout FCT, extinction probes were conducted withi...

A program was developed for reducing the aggressive/destructive behavior of a 13-year-old boy with autism. All previous interventions had been ineffective. The program included a high density of positive reinforcement, tokens, choice making, response cost, overcorrection, and physical restraint. Treatment occurred in a self-contained classroom at a school for children with special needs. All of...

Early antisocial behavior has its origins in childhood behavior problems, particularly those characterized by aggressive and destructive behavior. Deficits in self-regulation across multiple domains of functioning, from the physiological to the cognitive, are associated with early behavior problems, and may place children at greater risk for the development of later antisocial behavior. Data ar...

We used descriptive assessment information to generate hypotheses regarding the function of destructive behavior for 2 individuals who displayed near-zero rates of problem behavior during an experimental functional analysis using methods similar to Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994). The descriptive data suggested that destructive behavior occurred primarily when caregivers ...