Does self-harm have the desired effect?

• Verfasst von: Störkel, Lisa M. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Niedtfeld, Inga [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Schmahl, Christian [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Hepp, Johanna [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Does self-harm have the desired effect?
• Titelzusatz: comparing non-suicidal self-injury to high-urge moments in an ambulatory assessment design
• Verf.angabe: Lisa M. Störkel, Inga Niedtfeld, Christian Schmahl, Johanna Hepp
• E-Jahr: 2023
• Jahr: 8 February 2023
• Umfang: 11 S.
• Fussnoten: Online verfügbar 2 Februar 2023, Artikelversion 8 Februar 2023 ; Gesehen am 28.03.2023
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Behaviour research and therapy
• Ort Quelle: Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 1963
• Jahr Quelle: 2023
• Band/Heft Quelle: 162(2023) vom: Feb., Artikel-ID 104273, Seite 1-11
• ISSN Quelle: 1873-622X
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.brat.2023.104273
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Affect
• Sach-SW: Ambulatory assessment
• Sach-SW: Emotion regulation
• Sach-SW: Non-suicidal self-injury
• Sach-SW: Tension
• K10plus-PPN: 1840288469

Abstract

All theoretical models of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) posit that regulation of negative affect (NA) is a central motive for NSSI, and cross-sectional work supports this. However, previous ambulatory assessment (AA) studies that examined NSSI found mixed results. We investigated the affect regulation function of NSSI in 51 women with DSM-5 NSSI disorder in a 15-day AA study with five random daily prompts and self-initiated NSSI prompts. We extend previous work by i) comparing NSSI moments to moments of a high-urge for NSSI, ii) adding high-frequency sampling following NSSI and high-urge moments, and iii) including tension as a dependent variable. We hypothesized that NA and tension would show a steeper decrease following NSSI than following high-urge moments, if NSSI was effective in reducing NA and tension. Results showed that the significant linear NA decline following NSSI was not steeper than that following high-urge moments. For aversive tension, we found that NSSI was associated with a significant linear decrease in tension, whereas resisting an urge was not. High-urge moments were better described by an inverted U-shaped pattern, likewise leading to decreased NA and tension following the reported urge. In exploratory analyses, we provide visualized clustering of the NA and tension trajectories surrounding NSSI using k-means and relate these to participants’ self-rated effectiveness of the NSSI events. Findings indicate that resisting an urge may also be effective in managing NA and tension and underline the utility of interventions such as urge-surfing.