Self-injurious behaviour in people with intellectual disability.
OBJECTIVE
To provide a critical evaluation of a broad range of peer-reviewed published studies of relevance to self-injurious behaviour in people with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders.


RESULTS
The review covers the prevalence of self-injurious behaviour, the characteristics of those showing the behaviour, self-injury in autism spectrum disorders, biological influences on self-injurious behaviour, behavioural assessment and psychological and pharmacological interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
The recent literature describes systematic evaluation of the efficacy of aripiprazole, and parent training combined with risperidone. Meta-analyses of behavioural interventions provide evidence of their efficacy and related research describes beneficial modification to behavioural assessment procedures. The prevalence literature provides data on individual characteristics that are associated with persistence and presence of self-injury and that might be considered as risk markers. Pain behaviour appears to be associated with self-injury, with implications for theories of the involvement of endorphins, and as a causal factor. In combination, these research findings demonstrate the multiple influences on self-injurious behaviour that must be taken into account in the assessment, formulation, intervention process.
Oliver
Chris
C
Cerebra Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. C.Oliver@Bham.ac.uk
Richards
Caroline
C
D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy