What was in the news and academic press about self-injury in April?

The impact of mental imagery on NSSI

A study published this month provides new findings about the impact of mental imagery, such as imagination, thoughts or mental sensations, on NSSI.

Self-injury urges and thoughts are triggered by negative feelings, and intensify over time, usually for about 30 minutes before the individual acts upon them. Understanding the mechanisms behind urges and thoughts, such as mental imagery, could help target treatment before self-injury occurs.

Researchers gathered reports of urges, mental imagery and NSSI from 43 participants aged 17-24. Based on this data, they observed that most mental imagery (83,48%) revolved around the act of self-injury itself, and to a lesser extent (38,33%) around the aftermath of the act. Participants’ mental imagery had a specific focus on how self-injury would be carried out and the relief that would result from it.

While mental imagery was previously thought to be a mere result of urges, the study found that it also increases the urge and the likelihood of self-injury. Treatment that would help better deal with negative imagery or redirect them to positive imagery could be beneficial to those who suffer from NSSI.

SIRA and ISSS meetings

Two self-injury organizations organized meetings on zoom this month. 

The International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS) gathers researchers, clinicians and students to work toward the advancement of research about self-injury. We owe them the great podcast The Psychology of Self-Injury, hosted by Dr. Nicholas Westers. ISSS have organized a zoom meeting with researchers from New Zealand, Brazil and the Philippines, to discuss the current state of research throughout the world and give insights about self-injury in their respective countries. This is particularly important as 85% of research about non-suicidal self-injury come from Western countries (North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand).

Non-profit organization Self-Injury Recovery & Awareness (SIRA) hosts support video meetings and provides resources to help those who suffer from self-injury. They organized their first General Assembly to inform about SIRA’s goals, funding targets and collaboration. 

As part of SIRA’s shift to grow bigger and more global, I have been invited to write their newsletter. The president, Amanda, wanted to try a new format, so each month we’ll focus on one theme, provide information and give tips about a specific aspect of self-injury.

The theme we have chosen for April is how to deal with scars. It seemed important and useful to us as Spring has arrived.

You can read the newsletter here and visit SIRA’s website here if you need help.

There are researchers, clinicians and mental health activists who keep self-injury awareness and study alive. If you are interested, you can get involved by keeping in touch with research (many papers are on open access and can be found on Google scholar for example). Joining presentations by trusted organizations is another way to get insights from scholars’ perspective. I believe academics and people with lived experience should not be separated, but would rather benefit from learning from each other. Knowledge should not be kept only within the minds of clinicians and researchers.

References

Ji, J. L., Kyron, M., Saulsman, L., Becerra, R., Lin, A., Hasking, P., & Holmes, E. A. (2024). Picturing self-harm: Investigating flash-forward mental imagery as a proximal and modifiable driver of non-suicidal self-injury. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.13081