Self-Injury

Self-injury is the intentional hurting of one’s body tissue done by oneself in a physical way without conscious suicidal intent and for purposes not socially sanctioned.

There are three broad populations of people who self-injure. These are organized in terms of the context in which the self-injury is taking place: (1) those who self-injure in the context of experiencing significant cognitive impairments such as in the case of having a developmental disorder; (2) those who self-injure in the context of experiencing psychosis; and (3) those who self-injure outside of the above contexts and where the self-injury appears to be linked to and occurs in the context of emotional distress.

In the case of the last group, where self-injury is linked to emotional distress, the self-injury is sometimes referred to as typical self-injury or non-suicidal injury. This is the type of self-injury about which Inspiring Connections provides resources and training.