The psychophysiology of self-mutilation: Evidence of tension reduction

Brain, Kerryn L.; Haines, Janet; Williams, Christopher

doi:10.1080/13811119808258298

Cited by 78 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…These results may help in interpretation of findings regarding the functions of self-harm. Self-harmers have reported experiencing a sense of relief after episodes of deliberate self-harm (14), and there is physiological evidence that self-harmers experience a reduction in tension after an episode of self-harm (49). Taken together, the findings from past research and the present study suggest that selfharmers tend to be anxious and that self-harming is a method of reducing anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Deliberate Self-Harm in a Nonclinical Population: Prevalence and Psychological Correlates

Klonsky

Oltmanns

Turkheimer

2003

AJP

632

515

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Objective-Research on deliberate self-harm (intentionally injuring oneself without suicidal intent) has focused on clinical and forensic populations. Studying only these populations, which typically have serious psychopathology, may lead to inflated estimates of the association between self-harm and psychiatric disorder, as well as of the prevalence of deliberate self-harm. The present study investigated the prevalence and correlates of deliberate self-harm in a large group of nonclinical subjects.Method-Participants were 1,986 military recruits, 62% of whom were men, who were participating in a study of peer assessment of personality traits and pathology. Individuals who did and did not report a history of self-harm were compared on measures of personality and psychopathology.Results-Approximately 4% of the participants reported a history of deliberate self-harm. Compared with participants without a history of deliberate self-harm, self-harmers scored higher on self-and peer-report measures of borderline, schizotypal, dependent, and avoidant personality disorder symptoms and reported more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Item-level analyses indicated that peers viewed self-harmers as having strange and intense emotions and a heightened sensitivity to interpersonal rejection.Conclusions-About one of every 25 members of a large group of relatively high-functioning nonclinical subjects reported a history of self-harm. Self-harmers had more symptoms of several personality disorders than non-self-harmers, and their performance across measures suggested that anxiety plays a prominent role in their psychopathology. Future research should investigate whether psychotherapies or psychiatric medications known to reduce symptoms of anxiety can be effective in treating deliberate self-harm.Deliberate self-harm is defined as the intentional injuring of one's own body without apparent suicidal intent (1). Other names for this behavior include superficial-moderate selfmutilation (2), self-injurious behavior (3, 4), parasuicide (5), and self-wounding (6). Deliberate self-harm is encountered frequently in psychiatric hospitals (7) and also in outpatient settings (8). Deliberate self-harm may be found in patients with a variety of diagnoses, including substance abuse, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, major Address reprint requests to Dr. Turkheimer, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, 102 Gilmer Hall, P.O. Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400; ent3c@virginia.edu. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author Manuscript depression, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia (9, 10), as well as each of the personality disorders (11) and especially borderline personality disorder (4, 10, 12, 13).Deliberate self-harm occurs in nonclinical populations as well. Approximately 4% of the general population (14) and 14% of college students (15) have reported a history of deliberate self-harm. A recent study found that as many as 35% of college students report having ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Deliberate Self-Harm in a Nonclinical Population: Prevalence and Psychological Correlates

Klonsky

Oltmanns

Turkheimer

2003

AJP

632

515

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As we have reported elsewhere, self-cutting, especially in girls, seems more often to be associated with relieving a distressed state of mind and with self-punishment [38]. Several investigators have emphasised the tension-reducing or affect-regulating function of many acts of superficial self-cutting [4,33]. Perhaps because of this, and the apparent associated 'addictive' nature of self-cutting [33], this behaviour is often repeated and in this study this was so more often than for self-poisoning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

How adolescents who cut themselves differ from those who take overdoses

Hawton

Harriss

Rodham

2009

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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The aims of this study were to identify in what ways adolescents who cut themselves differ from those who take overdoses, and to investigate the role of contagion in these behaviours. Data from an anonymous selfreport questionnaire survey of 6,020 adolescents in 41 schools were analysed. Comparison of 220 adolescents who reported self-cutting in the previous year with 86 who had taken overdoses in the previous year as the sole method of deliberate self-harm (DSH) showed that far more of those who cut themselves had friends who had also engaged in DSH in the same period (OR 2.84, 95% CI 1.5-5.3, P \ 0.001), and fewer had sought help from friends before cutting (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9, P \ 0.02). Selfcutting usually involved less premeditation. Analyses at both the individual and school level showed that the association between engaging in DSH and exposure to DSH amongst peers was largely confined to girls who cut themselves. There are important differences between adolescents who cut themselves and those who take overdoses. Contagion may be an important factor in DSH by adolescents, especially in girls who cut themselves. These findings are relevant to the design of prevention and treatment programmes.

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“…As self-mutilative behavior becomes habitual, the risk to the individual increases (Brain, Haines, & Williams, 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Destructive Behavior and the Hereafter

Slovenko

2005

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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Self-destructive behavior is commonplace. In this issue, Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Holly A. Vanderhoff, and Peter J. Donovick (2005) discuss self-harm behavior in a forensic population. They depict four main functions of self-harm behaviors including (a) suicidal intent, (b) manipulation of the environment, (c) emotion regulation, and (d) a response to psychotic delusions or hallucinations. These functions, though to a somewhat lesser degree, are found in the general population as well. Quite likely, self-mutilation serves more than one function simultaneously. Part of the difficulty in understanding the reasons behind the behavior lies in the overdetermined nature of it.The late Dr. Karl A. Menninger (1938) wrote extensively about man's selfdestructiveness. Menninger was renowned as dean of American psychiatry. He agreed with Freud's postulation of a death instinct. In Man Against Himself, Menninger wrote, In the end each man kills himself in his own selected way, fast or slow, soon or late. We all feel this, vaguely; there are so many occasions to witness it before our eyes. The methods are legion and it is these which attract our attention. Some of them interest surgeons, some of them interest lawyers and priests, some of them interest heart specialists, some of them interest sociologists. (p. 5) According to the theory of a death instinct, there exists in all of us strong propensities toward self-destruction, and these come to fruition as actual suicide when many circumstances and factors bring it about. Menninger (1938) pondered the question, "If some great impulse toward death dominates all of us, if at heart we all want to die, why do so many struggle against it, why do not all of us commit suicide, as many philosophers have advised?" (p. 5). Dostoevsky's Kirilov pondered the question, considering the suffering in life: Why do we not all kill ourselves? Menninger (1938) went on to observe, Freud made the further assumption that the life-and-death instincts-the constructive and destructive tendencies of the personality-are in constant conflict and

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The psychophysiology of self-mutilation: Evidence of tension reduction

Cited by 78 publications

References 26 publications

Deliberate Self-Harm in a Nonclinical Population: Prevalence and Psychological Correlates

Deliberate Self-Harm in a Nonclinical Population: Prevalence and Psychological Correlates

How adolescents who cut themselves differ from those who take overdoses

Self-Destructive Behavior and the Hereafter

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