Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) in Adolescents:
The Role of Identity and Interpersonal Motivating Factors
Self-injury is a behaviour seen by many as strange and incomprehensible; injuring oneself is ordinarily something one goes to great lengths to avoid and it is therefore difficult for most people to understand the experience of an individual who engages in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). NSSI is becoming increasingly prevalent within contemporary adolescent populations; this trend has been further reflected in the mounting empirical research on NSSI, especially in the context of the adolescent population.
Definition Empirical research on NSSI reveals a complex definitional and conceptual discrepancy that could be interpreted as a reflection …show more content…
Matthew (5:30) states that it is better to amputate a limb, should it be tempting you to evil, than to keep the limb, succumb to temptation and enter hell with all your appendages. This passage has been influential in the self-injurious behaviours of many individuals throughout history, and can be linked with one of the first known cases of deliberate self-injury; a widow who, driven to madness by the death of her husband, performed a auto-enucleation to exorcise the evil spirits living within her (Favazza, 1996). In his book, Bodies Under Siege, Favazza notes that this extreme form of self-injury is a typical example of how deliberate self-injury has been observed throughout history; extreme, and typically only seen in the case of individuals with marked emotional disturbances. Self-injury is now becoming increasingly typical behaviour of contemporary adolescents, and does not usually include such extreme mutilations such as enucleation or amputation(Gilman, 2013; Nock, 2010; Swannell, Martin, Page, Hasking, & St John, 2014). The shift from self-injury as a product of extreme mental disturbance to seemingly high-functioning individuals is also observable as a social phenomenon in the context of media
The Role of Identity and Interpersonal Motivating Factors
Self-injury is a behaviour seen by many as strange and incomprehensible; injuring oneself is ordinarily something one goes to great lengths to avoid and it is therefore difficult for most people to understand the experience of an individual who engages in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). NSSI is becoming increasingly prevalent within contemporary adolescent populations; this trend has been further reflected in the mounting empirical research on NSSI, especially in the context of the adolescent population.
Definition Empirical research on NSSI reveals a complex definitional and conceptual discrepancy that could be interpreted as a reflection …show more content…
Matthew (5:30) states that it is better to amputate a limb, should it be tempting you to evil, than to keep the limb, succumb to temptation and enter hell with all your appendages. This passage has been influential in the self-injurious behaviours of many individuals throughout history, and can be linked with one of the first known cases of deliberate self-injury; a widow who, driven to madness by the death of her husband, performed a auto-enucleation to exorcise the evil spirits living within her (Favazza, 1996). In his book, Bodies Under Siege, Favazza notes that this extreme form of self-injury is a typical example of how deliberate self-injury has been observed throughout history; extreme, and typically only seen in the case of individuals with marked emotional disturbances. Self-injury is now becoming increasingly typical behaviour of contemporary adolescents, and does not usually include such extreme mutilations such as enucleation or amputation(Gilman, 2013; Nock, 2010; Swannell, Martin, Page, Hasking, & St John, 2014). The shift from self-injury as a product of extreme mental disturbance to seemingly high-functioning individuals is also observable as a social phenomenon in the context of media