Self-Injury: Who hurts themselves and why do they do it?
Aleita A. Brown
Grand Rapids Community College
Self-injury is something that people of all ages, races, and genders can struggle with. “There is no single ‘self-injurer’ profile,” Janis Whitlock (2009), director of the Cornell Research Program on Self Injury and Recovery at Cornell University, has noted, but there are some trends among those who self-injure. Whitlock went on to state that self-injury is something that most commonly begins in adolescence, but it is not unheard of for adults or children to start the behavior. She claimed the data on self-injury and gender is somewhat inconclusive, although most experts agree “that self-injury is much more visible among …show more content…
Where does such a thought come from? For myself and many others, the idea came from someone close to me. Jenn was my oldest brother’s live-in girlfriend at the time. She struggled a lot with depression and, I was told, cut herself because of it. For some reason that really piqued my interest. She cut herself? On purpose? Why would anyone do that? It was fascinating to me. I remember deciding to write a story about a boy who cut himself. I asked her why she did it so I could make my character seem more relatable and she told me about how it helped alleviate stress and calm her down. I guess I liked the sound of it. It wasn’t long before I decided to test it out and see how it affected me and my own emotions.
According to Matthew Nock (2009), clinical psychologist and director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Developmental Research at Harvard University, this is not an uncommon occurrence. In an insightful article on self-injury Nock wrote, “The decision to engage in [self-injury] undoubtedly is influenced by observing the behavior being used by others. Indeed, most self-injurers report first learning about the behavior from friends, family, and the media.” It would appear I am not the only one to have picked up the habit of picking up the blade from someone …show more content…
J. (2013). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (7th ed., p. 414). New York City, NY: Worth Publishers.
Klonsky, D. E., & Muehlenkamp, J. J. (2007). Self-injury: A research review for the practitioner [Electronic version]. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 63(11), 1049-1051. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20412
Nock, M. K. (2009). Why do people hurt themselves? New insights into the nature and functions of self-injury. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(2), 78-83. Retrieved from https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4134408/Nock_NewInsights_Selfinjury.pdf?sequence=2
Self-harm. (n.d.). In NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Health. Retrieved March 23, 2016, from https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Related-Conditions/Self-harmKivinen, M. (2016). Lecture 1 [PowerPoint]. Whitlock, J. (2009, December). The cutting edge: Non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence. In ACT for Youth Center of Excellency. Retrieved from
Aleita A. Brown
Grand Rapids Community College
Self-injury is something that people of all ages, races, and genders can struggle with. “There is no single ‘self-injurer’ profile,” Janis Whitlock (2009), director of the Cornell Research Program on Self Injury and Recovery at Cornell University, has noted, but there are some trends among those who self-injure. Whitlock went on to state that self-injury is something that most commonly begins in adolescence, but it is not unheard of for adults or children to start the behavior. She claimed the data on self-injury and gender is somewhat inconclusive, although most experts agree “that self-injury is much more visible among …show more content…
Where does such a thought come from? For myself and many others, the idea came from someone close to me. Jenn was my oldest brother’s live-in girlfriend at the time. She struggled a lot with depression and, I was told, cut herself because of it. For some reason that really piqued my interest. She cut herself? On purpose? Why would anyone do that? It was fascinating to me. I remember deciding to write a story about a boy who cut himself. I asked her why she did it so I could make my character seem more relatable and she told me about how it helped alleviate stress and calm her down. I guess I liked the sound of it. It wasn’t long before I decided to test it out and see how it affected me and my own emotions.
According to Matthew Nock (2009), clinical psychologist and director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Developmental Research at Harvard University, this is not an uncommon occurrence. In an insightful article on self-injury Nock wrote, “The decision to engage in [self-injury] undoubtedly is influenced by observing the behavior being used by others. Indeed, most self-injurers report first learning about the behavior from friends, family, and the media.” It would appear I am not the only one to have picked up the habit of picking up the blade from someone …show more content…
J. (2013). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (7th ed., p. 414). New York City, NY: Worth Publishers.
Klonsky, D. E., & Muehlenkamp, J. J. (2007). Self-injury: A research review for the practitioner [Electronic version]. Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 63(11), 1049-1051. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20412
Nock, M. K. (2009). Why do people hurt themselves? New insights into the nature and functions of self-injury. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(2), 78-83. Retrieved from https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4134408/Nock_NewInsights_Selfinjury.pdf?sequence=2
Self-harm. (n.d.). In NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Health. Retrieved March 23, 2016, from https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Related-Conditions/Self-harmKivinen, M. (2016). Lecture 1 [PowerPoint]. Whitlock, J. (2009, December). The cutting edge: Non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence. In ACT for Youth Center of Excellency. Retrieved from