Behavioral Disorders/Self Injurious Behavior

Self-injurious behavior (SIB), displayed by individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities, involves the occurrence of behavior that results in physical injury to one's own body. Common forms of SIB include, but are not limited to, head-hitting, head-banging and hand-biting. In the most severe cases, SIB can result in retinal detachment, blindness, broken bones, bleeding or death. SIB is displayed by 10 to 15 percent of individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. These estimates are higher among individuals living in institutions and among those with greater cognitive impairments. SIB is also associated with certain genetic disorders, such as Lesch-Nyhan and Rett Syndromes.

Individuals may engage in SIB for a variety of reasons. In some cases, SIB may occur because it results in favorable outcomes, such as attention from caregivers or the termination of academic or instructional demands. SIB may also be biologically based. For example, some research has suggested that SIB may result in the release of chemicals in the brain that produce pleasurable effects. Although there is considerable evidence to support of all of these explanations, current thought indicates that SIB is a highly complex, heterogeneous phenomenon that is often attributable to a combination of factors.

Examples, Subsets and Synonyms for Behavioral Disorders:
•Noncompliance
•Aggression
•Self-injurious Behavior
•Pica
•Enuresis
•Encopresis
•Behavioral Feeding Disorders

You won't believe it, but 'self-mutilation' (or rather the threat of doing so in order to attract attention) is a 'FASHION' among teenagers at the moment!! When my daughter (13) learnt that she couldn't go to see her singer heartthrob (together with a whole bunch of other 'groupies') this weekend, she said she'd cut her wrists! And when I asked her where she'd got THAT idea from, she answered: "That's what all the girls do now when they're lovesick!" Of course I asked myself whether I'd gone mad or my daughter or the whole world; but the answer came from a key pal of mine from Canada: she confirmed my suspicions, telling me that in Canada there's a similar 'fashion' going on...

Best,
Bina

Wow, that sounds terrible. I don't understand the mentality of it being a "Fashion". Cutting is normally a way for youth to cope with a mental pain and divert that to a physical pain.

Cutting, burning, piercing, and other body mutilation/modification has been associated with goth and other alternative groups for a while. Unfortunately what these kids don't realize is that for one, it can kill them (in particular the cutting thing, but even the others can cause deadly infections), but maybe just as bad is it leaves lifetime scars that will remind them of the pain and hurt that they were etching into their bodies. As a parent, I don't see how other parents of kids that have these markings can just let it go and chalk it up to them being kids. There is definitely more to it, there is a reason these kids associate with other kids that are doing the same things. I sometimes wonder if by the time they fall into these behaviors if it's too late, if they are too far gone to even change it? That's why I am uber vigilant about who my son associates with, and what he is doing online. I don't care if he or his friends think I'm controlling, I'd much rather have that and have him grow up normal, than to grow up looking like he used his body as an etch a sketch and/or a pincushion.