The Psychophysiology of Self-Mutilative Behaviour

The Self-Mutilative Nature of Severe Onychophagia: A Comparison with Self-Cutting

“…This delay, compared with the early reduction ofheart and respiration responses, may reflect the nature of the skin conductance response, which has been determined to be vulnerable to such factors as imagery ability (46). In summary, the pattern of heart rate and respiration response across the stages for the severe group in this study is similar to the reported pattern for individuals who engage in skin-cutting (16,17). This pattern is not present for the mild group.…”

“…The tension reduction response for skin-cutting was observed using this methodology, with arousal levels peaking in the second stage when the moments leading to cutting were described and a reduction in arousal in the third stage when cutting occurred (16,17).…”

“…The likelihood that the individual will engage in such behaviour when faced with a similar emotional situation is then increased. Thus, the behaviour is being negatively reinforced by the pleasant tension reduction (16,17). Classifying severe onychophagia as self-mutilative and subsequently applying the tension reduction model of self-mutilation may increase understanding of the etiology and maintenance of this behaviour and improve the efficacy of treatment (9).…”

The Psychophysiology of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

“…Each imagery script was divided into four distinct stages: setting the scene (a description of the environment and behaviours at the onset of the event), approach (the events leading up to the incident and the reactions to those events), the actual incident (the behaviours and reactions associated with the actual event), and the consequence of the event (the reactions to the event and the specific behaviours performed after the incident) (Brain et al, 1998;Driscoll et al, 1996;Haines et al, 1995;McLaren et al, 1996;Williams et al, 1989;Williams et al, 1995).…”

“…A personalised guided imagery methodology provides a more practical way to determine the specific arousal patterns associated with an obsessive-compulsive episode. This methodology has been successfully used to determine the psychophysiological processes associated with self-mutilation (Brain, Haines, & Williams, 1998;, nail-biting (Wells, Haines, & Williams, in press), bulimia , self-poisoning (Driscoll, Williams, & Haines, 1996), police stress (McLaren, Haines, & Williams, 1996), workplace phobia (Carson, Haines, & Williams, in press), and punitive parent-child relationships (Williams, Wilson, Montgomery, & Batik, 1989). The methodology has been determined to accurately elicit psychophysiological and subjective response patterns to the development of behaviours.…”