Self Injurious Behavior Analysis

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Self-injurious behaviors (SIB) are defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) as the intentional and deliberate infliction of injury or body mutilation, not as part of any religious or societal ritual, without the intent of suicide (American Psychiatric Association. & American Psychiatric Association. DSM-4 Task Force., 2013). The DSM-5 describes nonsuicidal self-injury disorder (NSSID) as a condition separate from SIB in which an individual recurrently expresses self-injurious behaviors. The criteria for diagnosing NSSID are similar to that of SIB with the difference being the individual engages in the self-harm or self-mutilation without suicidal intent at least five distinct times within a year. The behaviors can manifest in the form of cutting, biting, burning, hair pulling, and head banging (Klonsky, 2011), but are not associated with drugs, alcohol, or ritualistic body …show more content…
Depending on the population in question, the rates of incidence for self-injury vary. Between 1-4% of the adult human population has, or will at one point in their life, exhibit these behaviors, with a lifetime prevalence of 5.9% (Brier & Gil, 1998). The rate of incidence is reportedly higher in adolescents and institutionalized mental health patients, at 17% and 19%, respectively (Whitlock, Eckenrode, and Silverman, 2006; Oliver, Murphy, and Corbett, 1987). SIB is associated with many mental health disorders including Tourette’s syndrome, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), borderline personality disorder (BPD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), but has also been observed in individuals not affected by comorbid mental illnesses (Favazza, 2012). Most prevalently, SIB is comorbidly associated with BPD in up to 70-80% of cases (Bandelow, Schmahl, Falkai, & Wedekind, 2010). Most of the previous research done on SIB has been qualitative, in the form of interviews and behavioral