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 or direct inward
- 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. Similar findings appear in Simeon et al.; 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 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.
In another study, Herpertz et al. found, in addition to the poor affect regulation, impulsivity, and aggression noted earlier, disordered affect, a great deal of suppressed anger, high levels of self-directed hostility, and a lack of planning among self-injurers:
We may surmise that self-mutilators usually disapprove of aggressive feelings and impulses. If they fail to suppress these, our findings indicate that they direct them inwardly… . This is in agreement with patients’ reports, where they often regard their self-mutilative acts as ways of relieving intolerable tension resulting from interpersonal stressors.
And Dulit et al. found several common characteristics in self-injuring subjects with borderline personality disorder (as opposed to non-SI BPD subjects):
- more likely to be in psychotherapy or on medications
- more likely to have additional diagnoses of depression or bulimia
- more acute and chronic suicidality
- more lifetime suicide attempts
- less sexual interest and activity
In a study of bulimics who self-injure, subjects whose SIB was partially or mostly impulsive had higher scores on measures of obsession-compulsion, somatization, depression, anxiety, and hostility.
Simeon et al. found that the tendency to self-injure increased as levels of impulsivity, chronic anger, and somatic anxiety increased. The higher the level of chronic inappropriate anger, the more severe the degree of self-injury. They also found a combination of high aggression and poor impulse control. Haines and Williams found that people engaging in SIB tended to use problem avoidance as a coping mechanism and perceived themselves as having less control over their coping. In addition, they had low self-esteem and low optimism about life.
Source: Anonymous Recovery on http://www.TUMBLR.com
*The "Cat Scream" Photo was found on Google... Source not known.
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