Skip to main content

Self-Injury: How to Stop this Dangerous Practice


Many wonder why anyone would practice self-injury, as it is painful and dangerous. However, with autistic children, self-injury occurs more often than not. There are several theories as to why this practice can be prevalent in autistic children, and there are some methods you can use to help ease this distressing practice.

Because autistic children are unable to communicate through language the way that others can, they often feel frustrated at not being understood or at not getting what they need or want. Thus, autistic children may commit self-injury, by banging their heads or biting themselves (among other tactics), to release some of that frustration that cannot be communicated through words. Also, self-injury is a way of getting attention. An autistic child’s frustration goes hand-in-hand with wanting attention. For instance, by scratching oneself until one bleeds, the autistic child will immediately get someone’s attention, and this person will work to understand what the child wants or needs.

This theory of frustration and attention has been the sole thinking for quite some time. Recently, however, studies have shown that self-injury can have a biochemical component that relieves some of the pain and frustration one feels by releasing endorphins, or “happy hormones,” into one’s system. The endorphins also provide a release for the autistic child, allowing him or her to temporarily forget about his or her frustration and pain. Furthermore, it is believed that if one practices self-injury enough, the endorphins will begin to help mask any pain associated with such behavior, making it an addictive action.

While some professionals say that ignoring the autistic child’s self-injurious behavior is an acceptable method of treating such practice, this can obviously be very difficult. Others have suggested that communication therapy and drugs may help an autistic child by providing him or her with another method of communication. There are drugs that will help stem the addictive behavior of releasing endorphins into the system, and thus help stop such behavior. There are also nutritional solutions available; vitamin B6 and calcium have been said to help many families with an autistic child.

For the family members involved, communication training to learn how to communicate with an autistic child is also extremely important. Because normal adults, and even children and teenagers, are so accustomed to communicating through easily recognizable words or body language, they have to learn that communicating with an autistic child requires a completely different process. By looking for solutions for both the family and the autistic child involved in self-injurious behavior, one may be able to overcome this distressing practice.


Jose Amoros

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Road To Success

Currently, there are thousands of online enthusiasts who are taking the plunge and joining the community of affiliate marketers.  With e-commerce booming,and the internet dominating the business world,becoming an affiliate marketer is a very wise choice. To be successful with affiliate marketing, it's always best to learn the basics of the affiliate marketing business, then realize what sacrifices will need to be made for you to accomplish your goals.  To get to the top of affiliate marketing, you'll need to make the necessary sacrifices. Before you join any type of program, you should learn as much as possible about the company.  It's  actually very easy to research companies, as search engines are easily the one of the most primary  sources for information.  To be on the safe side,you should ensure that the program and company has  been operating for several years - which can be easily and properly verified. If the company has just st...

What Is Niche Marketing, and Do I Need It?

In marketing, a niche refers to a service or a product that occupies a special area of demand.  It is that small corner in the market that accounts for a certain kind of specialty concerning an unmet customer need.   To be able to attract a strong, solid market, the choice of a niche product should ultimately complement the website one owns.  It is through this scheme that he is able to generate a specific market for the niche product he is trying to sell. Niches are involved in niche marketing, the process of finding market segments that are small but potentially profitable nonetheless.  To maintain a profitable quantity of sales, this marketing strategy relies on increasing the loyalty of customers so that their corporate objectives will be met or surpassed.  Illustrative of this is the fact that the quality of the product or service sold will generate customer satisfaction and, consequently, customer loyalty.  The result is profitability...

Indian Vegetarian Cooking

Indian food is a great choice when cooking vegetarian.  Indians use a lot of vegetables, rice, and grains in their dishes which make them amazingly delicious as well as friendly for the vegetarian.  The best thing about Indian vegetarian cooking is that it is so savory when it is done because of the spices that they use.  You will find that the dishes smell great while they are cooking and taste great when you are eating. Indian vegetarian cooking is actually quite easy, but it does take a lot of different spices that you may not have just sitting around your house.  Coriander and curry is essential to Indian cooking, so you will want to find these two spices especially to add to your Indian vegetarian dishes.  You will also need to have on hand some brown rice as well as some couscous since these are the main grains that are used in Indian recipes. Here is one vegetarian Indian recipe that this writer found especially tasty and easy to make: Cre...