Self-injurious behaviour as part of genetic syndromes.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this paper is to review the association between genetic syndromes and self-injurious behaviour. METHOD The information available from the literature on the subject of self-injurious behaviours and genetic syndromes was collated and presented with a critical appraisal. RESULTS Self-injurious behaviours are associated with some genetic syndromes. However, the causal relationship between the genetic syndromes and the self-injurious behaviour remains far from clear. CONCLUSIONS Although self-injurious behaviour has been shown to be the part of a broader phenotype in many genetic disorders, the specificity and sensitivity of these behaviours in this context remain unclear.