abstract:Automatic behavior, from the Greek automatos or self-acting, is the spontaneous production of often purposeless verbal or motor behavior without conscious self-control or self-censorship. This condition can be observed in a variety of contexts, including schizophrenia, psychogenic fugue, epilepsy (in complex partial seizures and Jacksonian seizures), narcolepsy or in response to a traumatic event.
Like nail-biting and interrupting, this patterned, almost automaticbehavior needs to be broken with a specific and proactive approach one that uses old-fashioned goals, motivating tactics, and rewards.