Citation

Shahwan S, Lau JH, Abdin E, Zhang Y, Sambasivam R, Lin TW, Gupta B, How OS, Ann CS, Subramaniam M. Clin. Psychol. Psychother. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/cpp.2463

PMID

32314453

Abstract

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a behavioural concern and can present in diverse ways, varying by method, frequency, severity, and function etc. The possible combinations of these features of NSSI produces an array of profiles that makes evaluation and management of this behaviour challenging. The aim of this study was to build upon previous work that reduces the heterogeneity of NSSI patterns by using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify a typology of NSSI. Participants consisted of 235 outpatients aged 14-35 years attending a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore who had reported at least one NSSI behaviour within the last year. Eight indicators captured using the Functional Assessment of Self-mutilation were used in the LCA: frequency of NSSI, length of contemplation before engaging in NSSI, usage of >3 NSSI methods, suicidal ideation, and four psychological functions of NSSI i.e. social-positive, social-negative automatic-positive, and automatic-negative. The LCA revealed 3 distinct groups: Class 1- Experimental/Mild NSSI, Class 2- Multiple functions NSSI/Low Suicide Ideation, Class 3- Multiple functions NSSI/Possible Suicide Ideation. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between class membership and sociodemographic variables as well as measures of emotion-dysregulation, childhood trauma, depression and quality of life. Females were over-represented in Class 3. In general, Class 3 had the poorest scores followed by Class 2. Our analyses suggest that different NSSI subtypes require different treatment indications. Profiling patterns of NSSI may be a potentially useful step in guiding treatment plans and strategies.

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Language: en

Keywords

clinical sample; deliberate self-harm; latent class; non-suicidal; self-injury; subtypes