Psychopharmacological treatment of self-injurious behavior in individuals with autism.

Abstract

This paper is part of a special section on 'self-injurious behavior and autism' and reports new data that variously support the suggested involvement of dopaminergic, serotoninergic and opiatergic neurotransmitter systems in the expression of self-injurious behaviour. Further, some notions concerning the underlying biological mechanisms of self-injurious behaviour related to brain function and brain topography are described. Finally, besides the critical evaluation of several drugs used to treat self-injurious behaviour, four cases of autism are reported where sulpiride, a benzamide derivative, clearly reduced self-injurious behaviour.