College Counseling for Self‐Injurious Behavior: A Case Study

Abstract

This case study describes the counseling experience of a college woman undergoing treatment to address self-injurious behavior. The article presents and illustrates a counseling approach that is conceptually based on attachment and object relations theory. The approach emphasizes the client-counselor relationship and the need to establish a supportive interpersonal environment as the main factors contributing to positive change in the client's self-injuring behavior.

Healing Together

“…With high estimates of NSSI in teens and young adults, counselors must be knowledgeable of NSSI to appropriately work with clients and their caregivers (Dellinger-Ness & Handler, 2007; Gollust, Eisenberg, & Golbertstein, 2008; Tuisku et al, 2013; Whitlock, Eells, Cummings, & Purington, 2009). NSSI is defined as the deliberate destruction of body tissue without conscious suicidal intent (Aizenman, 2009; Buser & Buser, 2013; Favazza, 1998; Rossouw & Fonagy, 2012). Clients typically demonstrate NSSI through behaviors such as cutting or burning skin, head banging, skin picking, and interfering with wound healing, with cutting and burning being the most frequently reported (Wester & Trepal, 2005).…”