Forms of Deliberate Self-Harm and Their Prevalence in Adolescence

Abstract

The self-harming behaviour in adolescence as a form of high risk behaviour has recently undergone several changes, which involve three main areas -the prevalence, comorbidity and forms of selfharm. The problem of most studies which have tried to present relevant data with regard to selfharming behaviour is the question of which forms should be included in the study or which forms belong under the notion of self-harm. The ambiguous definition makes it problematic to observe the development of this phenomenon or to compare the data from multiple studies or countries. This study attempts to bring preliminary data related to the prevalence and forms of self-harming behaviour from three perspectives: 1/ self-harm as an intentional self-inflicted damage to the surface of the body, with the expectation that the injury will only lead to minor or moderate physical harm (called "Direct Physical Self-Harm"); 2/ self-harm as an intentional self-inflicted damage to the body, including indirect forms -e.g. through substance abuse (alcohol, medication etc.) or an intervention into the way the organism functions (called "Indirect Physical Self-Harm"); 3/ self-harm as any intentional self-inflicted damage to the body or mind of a person, including forms that cause psychological harm (called "Mental Self-Harm"). The study presents the prevalence of self-harming behaviour in the context of three perspectives and discusses the benefits of these views, their risks as well as the stimuli for further research in the area of selfharming behaviour in the adolescent population.

Detecting of Interrelationships between Eating Disorders and Self-Harm in Girls during Adolescence

“…It is a self-report questionnaire, which contains 22 items monitoring the presence of individual forms of self-harming behaviour. This inventory was translated, back-translated, and translation was evaluated by evaluators, who were independent (Démuth & Démuthová, 2019). Thus, the Slovak version of the questionnaire contained 20 forms of self-harm, with each of them respondents on a four-point scale capturing the frequency of occurrence of a particular behaviour (from "never" to "often") had to indicate the occurrence of the particular behaviour in themselves.…”

“…These forms of behaviour cannot be interpreted as synonymous with suicidal behaviour, although self-harm alone increases the likelihood of a suicidal attempts (Cooper et al, 2005;Greydanus & Shek, 2009). Self-harm is a source of eliminating anger, tension in order to induce positive emotions and gain control over oneself (Young et al, 2007, Démuth & Démuthová, 2019Démuthová & Démuth, 2020). Self-harm is very often a comorbid diagnosis in adolescents with eating disorders (Nitkowski, Petermann, 2011, Claes et al, 2013.…”