title: [A contribution to the understanding of Infantile self-mutilation based on communication theory (author's transl)].
abstract: Autoaggressive behaviour in childhood often poses diagnostic and even more so, therapeutic problems to the physician. One of the causes on which these problems are based, is that hitherto there was no possibility to look into the "conditional structure" of autoaggressive behaviour in a large population of children using sound statistical methods. The results as reported in this study are based on an "automutilationquestionnaire" as developed by the authors. They support the hypothesis that the different kings of self-mutilation, although phenomenologically quite variable, represent a deficiency of communication. This communication deficiency is manifested in that the child, by being autoaggressive, seeks to satisfy for the insufficiently compensated asymmetric communication with his environment. This result emphasizes in particular the necessity to include the family in the therapeutic regimen of the treatment of the autoaggressive child.
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D012652:Self Mutilation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
vernacular_title: Autoaggressives Verhalten im Kindesalter. Ein kommunikationstheoretischer Beitrag zum Verständnis kindlicher Automutilationen.