Citation

Persano HL. Int. J. Psychoanal. 2022; 103(6): 1089-1103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Institute of Psychoanalysis, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1080/00207578.2022.2133093

PMID

36533646

Abstract

This paper attempts to address self-harm from a psychoanalytic perspective in contemporary clinical practice and their relationship with aggression, impulsiveness, violence, and masochism. Self-harm is frequent in adolescents and young people, predominantly in feminine gender. The author describes the different manifestations of self-injurious behaviors in the contemporary clinic, its manifestation in adolescents and its relationship with psychopathology. Self-harm is a way of communication, through actions, to deal with psychic pain and with the self-vulnerability. Self-harm behaviors are a manifestation of psychic tension that results overwhelming, intolerable and its discharge relieves the subject suffering, although this way is ephemeral. Suffering is linked to childhood traumatic experiences, where the self of the infant was cathected with a greater amount of aggression than erotic libido. The author states that affective aggression is triggered by emotions like anger, sadness, and emptiness. Archaic masochism is a form of identification with the aggressor and a turn against oneself aggression commonly associated with episodes of child abuse. Also, it argues that the violence linked to self-injury is intersubjective fabric in nature and requires an interdisciplinary approach.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Child; Humans; Violence; Self-harm; violence; impulsivity; Aggression/psychology; *Self-Injurious Behavior/psychology; masochism; Masochism; self-aggression