Names have been changed. All quotes are based on true lived experience.

When I created this website in December 2019, I had already been interested in non-suicidal self-injury for about a year and a half. Over years of experience with the topic, I have read hundreds of research papers, talked with people with lived experience, interviewed researchers and artists, and volunteered for one year as a newsletter editor for a self-injury support organization.

These 7 years of learning made me challenge preconceived ideas, and helped me see beyond common conceptions. One of these beliefs is that people harm themselves to cope with feelings of sadness and depression. While this is not wrong, this is overly-simplified.

Self-injury’s most common function is indeed emotion regulation¹, but this norm shouldn’t overshadow other functions, nor simplify the great diversity of emotions that someone may try to regulate. People can self-injure even in the absence of strong negative emotions. For example, it has been found that boredom can be a motive for self-injury². 

I cut myself again because I was feeling depressed and bored – Alyssa, 23

Self-injury can also be used to trigger positive emotions, which is called “positive-reinforcement”, as opposed to “negative reinforcement” which consists of avoiding negative feelings^{3, 4}. While positive reinforcement is less frequently discussed because it is more rare, it’s important to keep it in consideration as it’s suggested that it can contribute to making self-injury a habit⁴.

Tonight I [self-harmed] again but this time it was different. I felt this time I did it for fun – Morgan, 20

The “buzz” some people get after engaging in self-injury might be the most well-known case of positive reinforcement, but there are other instances. For example, some people see self-injury as a form of self-care, especially in regard to treating wounds⁵.

I took care of my cut. I like to take care of myself when it is about injuries. I did all that listening to music. – Leah, 21

Depressive metal vocalist and musician Kim Carlsson used self-injury as a form of meditation and at times as a form of self-discipline^{6, 7}. One person can both experience positive and negative reinforcement, can have several reasons to injure themselves, and these reasons can vary over time.

Positive reinforcement of self-injury sets up some interesting but complex themes for reflection, such as the right of people to dispose of their body, even in ways that harm it, and whether all types of self-injury need to be ultimately stopped.

References

[1] Taylor, P. J., Jomar, K., Dhingra, K., Forrester, R., Shahmalak, U., & Dickson, J. M. (2018). A meta-analysis of the prevalence of different functions of non-suicidal self-injury. Journal of Affective Disorders, 227, 759-769. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032717315227

[2] Nederkoorn, C., Vancleef, L., Wilkenhöner, A., Claes, L., & Havermans, R. C. (2016). Self-inflicted pain out of boredom. Psychiatry Research, 237, 127-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.01.063

[3] Gordon, K. H., Selby, E. A., Anestis, M. D., Bender, T. W., Witte, T. K., Braithwaite, S., . . . Joiner Jr., T. E. (2010). The Reinforcing Properties of Repeated Deliberate Self-Harm. Archives of Suicide Research, 14(4), pp. 329-341.

[4] Martin, J., Cloutier, P. F., Levesque, C., Jean-François, B., Marie-France, L., & K., N. M. (2013). Psychometric Properties of the Functions and Addictive Features Scales of the Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory: A Preliminary Investigation Using a University Sample. Psychological Assessment, 25(3), pp. 1013-1018.

[5] Simopoulou, Z., & Chandler, A. (2020). Self-harm as an attempt at self-care. European Journal for Qualitative Research in Psychotherapy, 10, 110-120. https://ejqrp.org/index.php/ejqrp/article/view/101

[6] Carlsson, K. (2019, November 1). On cutting with Kim Carlsson – Part one. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1saOYy2ajY

[7] Carlsson, K. (2019, November 4). On cutting with Kim Carlsson – Part two. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0InolWJJI