Understanding and Counseling Self‐Mutilation in Female Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

This article examines the syndrome of self-m utilation with specific attention given to self-mutilation in female adolescents and young adults . Causes, symptoms, types, definitions, and treatments are discussed. Included is an e xplanation of the lexical and conceptual confusion that accompanies self-mutilation. Implications and recommendations for counselors are addressed.

College Students and Self‐Injury: Intervention Strategies for Counselors

“…In fact, mental health professionals often identify self-injury as the most disturbing and frustrating client behavior (Gamble, Pearlman, Lucca, &Allen, 1994). With this in mind, counselors need to manage their personal reactions toward students who self-injure and monitor the limits that strong personal reactions place on their own ability to work with these students (Zila & Kiselica, 2001). Attempts to control the student by forcing him or her to stop self-injuring should be avoided.…”

Empirically Supported Treatments and General Therapy Guidelines for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

“…This is accomplished by helping the client to discover alternative ways to express emotions, by rewarding reductions in the frequency, severity, or type of self-injury, and by encouraging others to react in a neutral, yet supportive, fashion (Favell et. al., 1982;Van Moffaert, 1990;Zila & Kiselica, 2001). Involving others from the client's environment such as parents, friends, or partners may also help to reduce external reinforcers.…”

“…In conjunction with the behavioral interventions, cognitive restructuring of maladaptive beliefs will likely be necessary (Zila & Kiselica, 2001). Individuals who engage in NSSI often have a number of negative automatic thoughts about themselves or others, their body, their ability to cope with distress, and their future (Favazza, 1996).…”

Self-injurious behaviors, diagnoses, and treatment methods: What mental health professionals are reporting

“…In addition to behaviorally based interventions, other authors have discussed the use of cognitive therapy to help clients realize the connection between their thoughts and SIBs (Zila & Kiselica, 2001), while others have proposed more creative approaches, such as art therapy, to help clients who self-injure express their needs in other ways (Cooper 8z Milton, 2003). Although behaviorally based interventions seem to be the most frequently recommended, no one has asked practicing mental health professionals in the community what treatment modalities they use in the natural setting (i.e.. not an experimental study) when working with clients who selfinjure.…”