A review of literature on self-destructive behavior suggests 5 major hypotheses concerning motivation: 1) learned-operant, maintained by positive social reinforcement; 2) learned-operant, maintained by negative reinforcement; 3) self-stimulation; 4) aberrant physiological processes; & 5) ego boundary establishment/guilt reduction. Effective treatment may depend on recognition of the different motivational sources for self-destructive behavior & the developmental relationship among these sources. (98 refs.)