Who Self-Injures?

• Psychological Characteristics
• Demographics
• Why So Many Women?

Psychological Characteristics

The overall picture seems to be of people who --

• strongly dislike/invalidate themselves,
• are hypersensitive to rejection,
• are chronically angry, usually at themselves,
• tend to suppress their anger,
• have high levels of aggressive feelings, which they disapprove of strongly and often suppress,
• are more impulsive and more lacking in impulse control,
• tend to act in accordance with their mood of the moment,
• tend not to plan for the future,
• are depressed and suicidal/self-destructive,
• suffer chronic anxiety,
• tend toward irritability,
• do not see themselves as skilled at coping,
• do not have a flexible repertoire of coping skills,
• do not think they have much control over how/whether they cope with life
• tend to be avoidant
• do not see themselves as empowered

People who self-injure tend not to be able to regulate their emotions well, and there seems to be a biologically-based impulsivity. They tend to be somewhat aggressive and their mood at the time of the injurious acts is likely to be a greatly intensified version of a longstanding underlying mood, according to Herpertz (1995). Similar findings appear in Simeon et al. (1992); they found that two major emotional states most commonly present in self-injurers at the time of injury -- anger and anxiety -- also appeared as longstanding personality traits. Linehan (1993a) found that most self-injurers exhibit mood-dependent behavior, acting in accordance with the demands of their current feeling state rather than considering long-term desires and goals.