1. Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) an Introduction:
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is defined as self-injurious behavior without suicidal intent (Klonsky, 2007). This is an issue that has become ever more prevalent in the field of mental health and has been shown to effect individuals struggling with many other coinciding mental health issues (Klonsky, 2007). Mental Health practitioners have serious concerns regarding the ethical and effective treatment of adolescents struggling with issues related to self-injurious behaviors and the risk factors related to self-harm. When untreated these behaviors can lead to unintentional suicide and as a result it is of utmost importance that mental health professionals approach issues of self-harm with extreme caution, valid assessment tools, and evidence supported treatment. Existing evidence suggests that a strong therapeutic alliance is an important place to start when working with individuals engaging in self-harming behaviors (Kress, 2008) (Muehlenkamp,2006). Next, it is suggested that it is important to develop a good and non-judgmental understanding of the function of the self-harming behavior for the client (Kress, 2008) (Muehlenkamp,2006). Literature also suggests that involvement of family can be an important aspect of treatment. Finally, there is new research to show that Mentalization-Based Treatment is more effective than standard treatment methods for individuals who are self-harming (Russouw, 2012).
2. Information about NSSI:
Individuals struggling with issues of self-harm come from many different backgrounds and struggle with many different mental health issues. However, NSSI is most common among adolescents and young adults, with the age of onset being between 13 and 14 (Klon...
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Muehlenkamp, J. J. (2006). Empirically supported treatments and general therapy guidelines for non-suicidal self-injury. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 28(2), 166-185.
Rossouw, T. I., & Fonagy, P. (2012). Mentalization-based treatment for self-harm in adolescents: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(12), 1304-1313.
Trudie I. Rossouw, Mentalization-Based Treatment: Can It Be Translated Into Practice in Clinical Settings and Teams?, Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(3), Pages 220-222.
Wilkinson, P., & Goodyer, I. (2011). Non-suicidal self-injury. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 20(2), 103-108.
Wilkinson, P. (2012). Non-suicidal self-injury. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 22
(Suppl 1):S75–S79.
Self-harm, or also known as attempted suicide, or parasuicide, is a way to physically express emotional distress. For people who do self-harm, it is a way to cope with their problem, to distract them from the emotional pain. In simple words, it is a quick temporary band-aid for their inner wounds. After hurting themselves, people wou...
According to Fowler, Crosby, Parks, and Ivey (2013), suicide and nonfatal suicidal ideations are significant public health concerns for adolescents and young adults. While the onset of suicidal behaviors is observed as young as six years of age, rates of death and nonfatal injury resulting from suicidal behavior are moderately low until 15 years of age (Fowler et al., 2013). According to Fowler et al (2013), the most current available statistics in the United States (U. S.) reported suicide as the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10-14 and 15-19 years, and it was the second leading cause of death among persons aged 20-24 years.
Why do people hurt themselves? In a journal article from the American Journal of Psychotherapy, Louise Ruberman notes that about 2.1 million teens suffer from nonsuicidal self-injury, or NSSI. Young women between the ages of 14 and 18 years old take part in NSSI due to poor development of the relationship with their mothers, childhood abuse, and psychiatric disorders. Although there are multiple ways of causing injury to oneself, cutting of the skin as a means of self-mutilation is said to be the most common (Ruberman 119). We will start out by examining the problems that occur during the relationship development between a mother and a daughter at a young age.
D, S., & L., C. (1999). Methods of adolescent suicide prevention. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 60(suppl 2):70-4.
...e hospital. This therefore limits the ability of the results about the SIQ-JR as a predictor for suicide attempts to any adolescent who may be suicidal, but is not admitted to a hospital. This would carry a high clinical significance because patients who are not admitted to hospitals have significantaly less supervision. Monitoring and predicting suicide attempts in this population would be exceptionally important.
(214) Young children who are at risk of committing suicide may have suffered a loss of a loved one, or are suffering family stress like the parent being unemployed or there being abused by a parent or family friend, and their probably suffering from depression. These children are the ones that show behavioral patterns such as: running away from home, accident-proneness, aggressive acting out, temper tantrums, self criticism by others, low tolerance of frustration, sleep problems, dark fantasies, day dreams, hallucination, marked personality changes, and overwhelming interest in death and suicide (Comer, 2013, pp. 302). These children are just looking for an escape route to either escape or reunite with a loved one. Suicide in children has been rising over the past couple of years more than 6 percent of death among children ages 10 to 14 are caused by suicide. Boys seem to outnumber girls in this case with 5 to 1 ratio’s and almost every 1 in 100 children try to harm themselves and many be hospitalized for destructive acts like: stabbing or cutting one selves, trying to burning or shoot themselves, or even overdosing on medication and jump off high places(Comer, 2013, pp. 155). In the United States alone 1 in every 100,000 children kill themselves each year (Comer, 2013, pp. 301).
...harm has sky rocketed and needs to be addressed immediately. In addition, as I covered towards the beginning of the core assessment, the important variables and culprits on suicide and self-harm include psychological, family, and social problems in society. In my personal opinion, the media outlets need to contain on what they report in reference to teenager suicide. With all the solutions and treatment plans I mentioned in this assessment, there is very minimal evidence of the effectiveness. The major challenges I foresee in the future for this ongoing problem include the understanding and comprehension of adolescent suicide in addition to the contributors. Identifying preventative measures aimed at young teens considered a high risk and the effective treatment options are challenges that are difficult, yet; very attainable with a collective effort from everyone.
The percent of people self-harming themselves in the world is increasing tremendously. Research provided by “Dr. Paul Moran of King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry and George C. Patton, professor at the Center for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia” (Willingham), found out of 1,802 adolescents, eight percent of the adolescents were cutting, ten percent were girls, and 6 percent were boys. Age 15 to 24 year old girls are the ones that are most likely injuring themselves. In Dr. Moran and Dr. Patton’s studies they found “teens who experienced depression or anxiety were about six times more likely to self-harm in young adulthood than adolescents who did not suffer from these illnesses” (Willingham), leading to the doctors results of the percentage data.
Styer, Denise M. "An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide." Prevention Researcher Integrated Research Services, Inc., Vol. 13, Supplement. Dec. 2006: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Wilkinson P, Kelvin R, Roberts C, Dubika B, Goodyer I (2011) “Clinical & Psychosocial Predictors of Suicide Attempts and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in the Adolescents Depression, Anti-Depressants & Psychotherapy Trial (ADAPT)” The American Journal of Psychiatry 168(5) page 495-501
Do you know anyone who cuts themselves or harms themselves? Chances are you do and you don’t even know it. Self Harm is something that a lot of people go through. Some self harmers don’t even realize they are harming themselves because they are too occupied with getting their other pain to go away. Self harm is very dangerous and when people do it they typically do it to make themselves feel better or it “lets all the pain out through the cuts”. Self harm also creates the chance that the person harming themselves will die even if they aren’t intending to commit suicide.
Some say that the teenage years are one of the most challenging and trying times in an individual’s life. Many changes take place, both emotionally and physically, which sometimes can give the feeling of excitement… or in other cases… complete confusion and utter turmoil. Because emotions tend to run high during this period of life due to hormones, some teens resort to an unhealthy way of coping to deal with their emotional pain. This unhealthy way of dealing with emotional pain is also known as self injury. Self injury (or self harm) is widely known to take place during the teenage years up until the early years of adulthood (ages 14-24)when judgments become more defined, criticism becomes harsher, and limits are tested. The transition from childhood to adulthood may sound exciting and adventurous to some, but to others, it’s a nightmare they wish they could wake up from.
The key to understanding suicide and self-destructive behavior comes from the awareness of how some destructive thought processes control the need to end one’s life. Being cognizant of how these thoughts are veiled and can lead to a self-destructive downward spiral, enables clinicians to better assess risk and design interventions for depressed and suicidal clients. According to Nock and Banajii (2007) worldwide, suicides among adolescents have increased dramatically averaging one million each year. Many teenagers experience strong feelings of stress, confusion and self-doubt in the process of growing up. Pressures to succeed, the economy, and the environment can intensify these feelings. At present, self-report has been unsuccessful in the prevention of teen suicide; the tools available to help health care professionals detect potential suicide ideation are not sufficiently reliable (Nock & Banajii, 2007). In fact, Nock and Benajii stated that often during therapy, suicidal ideation may not be present and surfaces once the patient goes home or oftentimes, the patient will deliberately hide the urge to end his life. Because the existing tools rely solely on subjective statements, it is very challenging to decipher congruency between what is verbalized and what remains unsaid (Nock & Banajii, 2007).