Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), the purposeful damaging of one's own body tissue without suicidal intent, is a common and serious mental health concern. Engagement in self-injury is associated with numerous mental health difficulties such as major depression. Of particular concern is recent evidence indicating that self-injury is a significant risk factor for suicide. Taken together, understanding self-injury and appropriately responding to people who self-injure is critical.
Developing a compassionate understanding of self-injury requires not only knowledge of current research but also essential insights from individuals with lived experience. Understanding Self-injury: A Person-Centered Approach offers a significant departure from traditional texts in the field by adopting a person-centered, strengths-based approach to understanding and addressing self-injury. In addition to giving a general introduction to self-injury, this book offers practical tips for families and caregivers, schools, clinicians, and advocates who support individuals who self-injure. Importantly, priority is given to topics that individuals with lived experience of self-injury find central to their experiences, such as stigma, social media, resilience, recovery, and advocacy.
This book is a must-read for anyone who interacts with or plays a supportive role in the lives of people who self-injure, including mental health professionals and students, school professionals, families, researchers, and, importantly, individuals with lived experience of self-injury.
Understanding Self-injury: A Person-Centered Approach offers a new way to think about self-injury that simultaneously draws on the latest empirical research and the insights of individuals who self-injure. The book not only covers the latest scientific and clinical advances in the field but also tackles issues that individuals face every day: stigma, social media, conceptualizations of recovery, and advocacy. This book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to further their understanding of self-injury and adopt a person-centered--rather than a medicalized, condition-centered, or deficit-based--view of the behavior and individuals who engage in it.
The content of this book is applicable in the context of diverse groups-not only for clinicians and researchers but also for teachers, parents, etc.-and leaves the reader with actionable steps they can take to address self-injury and reduce stigma when faced with the need to discuss such a sensitive topic.
