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Successes and limitations
in a trial of faradic (electro-aversive) stimulation This paper will report on a case study involving an adolescent female with severe, high frequency (6K-9K per month), chronic self-injury. Co-diagnosed with mental retardation and autism, functional analyses indicated that she was intensely stressed by any type of transition or demand, and was also highly dependent on self-restraint. Application for a trial of electro-aversive (faradic) stimulation led, on one hand, to the delay of treatment onset by legal and corporate issues and, on the other hand, to a host of concurrent and sequential behavioural, pharmacological, and medical interventions, all of which failed to abate her self-injury. Initiation of faradic stimulation quickly reduced rates of self-injury and brought about extraordinary positive effects and stabilization of behaviour. Subsequently, acute ear infections led to a resurgence of self-injury within an eight-month period, and this relapse was further aggravated by a number of technical problems, including her marked dependence on the electro-aversive equipment. Continuation of the therapeutic trial again reduced self-injury rates, albeit at a much slower rate. Discussion of these results will focus on some of the variables that facilitate or counteract behavioural suppression in applied settings. Keywords: developmental disabilities,
autism, self-injurious behaviour, faradic (electro-aversive)
stimulation |
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