stereotypy/habit disorder

Introduction

Intentional & repetitive behaviors that serve no constructive or socially acceptable purpose.

Etiology

• severe or profound mental retardation
• Lesch-Nyhan syndrome
• temporal lobe epilepsy
• postencephalitic syndrome
• schizophrenia
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• amphetamines

Epidemiology

• 10-23% of institutionalized patients with mental retardation

Clinical manifestations

• intentional, repetitive, non-functional behaviors*
• disturbance either causes self-injury or markedly interferes with normal activities*
• behaviors frequently performed in a rhythmic fashion
• scope of stereotypic behaviors
  • body rocking
  • head-banging
  • hitting or biting of one's own body
    • face-slapping
    • hand-biting
  • skin picking or scratching
  • teeth grinding (bruxism)
  • body manipulations
    • nose-picking
    • hair-pulling
    • eye-poking
    • anus-poking
  • non-communicative
  • repetitive vocalizations
  • breath-holding
  • hyperventilation
  • aerophagia

* DSM-IV diagnostic criteria

Management

• selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)

More general terms

• psychiatric disease; behavioral disorder
• chronic mental disorder