Citation

Kaess M. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00787-022-02044-0

PMID

35819728

Abstract

All behaviours that are performed intentionally, and with the knowledge that they can or will result in some degree of physical or psychological injury to oneself, could be conceptualised as "self-injury" or "self-harm" [1]. Most often, self-harm is nowadays divided into two main categories: suicidal behaviour and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). This division is based on the intent that is underlying the self-harming act.

In the past decades, there has been an ongoing discussion on the status of self-harm within our diagnostic classifications. For a long time, self-harm had only been considered a symptom of a few distinct disorders (e.g. depression or borderline personality disorder). In contrast, researchers had made an attempt to include both types of self-harm as independent diagnostic entities--nonsuicidal self-injury disorder and suicidal behaviour disorder--into the DSM-5 [2], which finally led to an inclusion in section 3 as diagnostic categories that warrant more research. So what exactly do we know to date about the meaning and significance of self-harm?...

Language: en