Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: An Observational Study in a Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is the self-inflicted destruction of body tissues without suicidal intent with a prevalence of 1.5% to 6.7% in the youth population. At present, it is not clear which emotional and behavioral components are specifically associated with it. Therefore, we studied NSSI in a clinical sample of youth using the Ottawa Self-injury Inventory and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the numerical responses provided to the tests. We found 54 patients with NSSI, with a mean age of 17 years. Scores were analyzed in the total sample and in four subgroups. In the total sample, Internal Emotion and External Emotion Regulation, Craving, Non-Planning and Total Impulsivity were significantly associated with NSSI. There were statistically significant differences in Craving between patients with multiple NSSI episodes, suicide attempts and multiple injury modes and patients of other corresponding subgroups, in Internal Emotion Regulation, Sensation Seeking and Motor Impulsivity between NSSI patients with suicide attempts and no suicide attempts, and in Cognitive Impulsivity between NSSI patients with multiple injury modes and one injury mode. It is necessary to carefully evaluate the components underlying NSSI in order to activate personalized treatment options.

Mental health profile in adolescents with Gender Dysphoria requiring Gender Affirmation: the experience of the University Hospital of Bari

“…Adolescents experiencing gender incongruities are exposed to a greater emotional burden than cisgender ones, both because of the increased social pressures they face and the complex maturation of their emotional regulation skills [20]. Although previous research has indicated that individuals with an early onset of GD could experience higher distress than individuals with a late onset which are usually older and potentially better at coping with distress [17], our results agree with more recent literature data and could support the idea that adolescents who experience gender incongruence later in time probably have fewer opportunities to adapt to such emotional and social burden [21,36]. We know that adolescence itself is a critical period for the development of emotion regulation for several reasons, which include signi cant physical changes, brain development of regions involved in affect generation and regulation, including the limbic system and prefrontal cortex, alterations of high-level executive and social processes necessary for emotion regulation, including working memory, inhibitory control, abstract thinking, decision making and perspective taking, increasing need for independence, academic and work pressures and uctuating social relationships in increasingly complex social contexts [37].…”

“…Aspects of body investment were expected to play a role in the prediction of NSSI, suicide and suicide attempts [45]. Moreover, it is widely thought that there is an emotion-regulatory function of self-harm, and several research results support the existence of an emotion dysregulation trait among people who engage in these behaviors, which could decrease the perception of negative affect in many different ways: both intrapersonal, arising from within a person, and/or interpersonal [21]. In adolescents with GD a bidirectional link between low protective attitudes towards one's body and greater di culty in regulating emotions seems to exist [20] considering that they must learn to control emotions in adaptive ways to promote social functioning and psychological well-being despite social rejection, stigma, discrimination, violence and victimization, low access to health care providers experienced in transgender health, and limited availability of a multidisciplinary team of experts [55,56].…”

“…A growing body of research reveals that youths with GD experience a range of psychiatric disorders at higher rates than the general population, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm [15,16] and that early transitioning people may similarly manifest higher levels of emotional and behavioral symptoms [17]. To our knowledge there are quite a number of studies examining the psychopathological aspects in adolescent GD [18,19] but still few data examine body investment and emotion regulation in this population [20] despite the role that these dimensions may have in determining self-harm [21]. Considering such premises, the objective of this study is to clinically describe a sample of adolescents with Gender A rmation request who referred to the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatry Units, Translational Biomedicine and Neurosciences (DiBraiN), University of Bari, Italy, in the attempt to better characterize internalizing symptoms, emotion regulation ability, and emotional investment in the body depending on whether the GD onset was early or late in life and whether GD is associated with selfharm or not.…”

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) Patterns in Adolescents from a Romanian Child Psychiatry Inpatient Clinic

“…Gender differences may also exist in help-seeking behaviours among individuals who engage in NSSI. Research suggests that females are more likely to seek professional help or disclose their self-harming behaviours to others, while males may be more reluctant to seek help due to stigma or perceptions of weakness [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”

Simulacija suicidalnosti kao manipulativno ponašanje uslijed iscrpljenja prilagodbenih sposobnosti

“…Kršenje zakonskih i moralnih odgovornosti prilikom zlouporabe javnih službi i neodgovornog trošenja financijskih sredstava, također ostavlja mogućnost pravnog sankcioniranja ovakvog ponašanja. 7…”