The practice of self-harm is one of the most difficult patterns of behavior to understand: from the view of the human being as a being that seeks pleasure and avoids pain, this pattern of behavior does not make sense.
However, self-harm is not an extreme rarity in the repertoire of behaviors that people can perform. In fact, it is estimated that about 4% of Americans self-injure to varying degrees of severity, and about 1% inflict serious injuries on themselves with some regularity.
Furthermore, it is known that the age group that engages in these behaviors most frequently is made up of adolescents and young adults. In this article we will review the possible causes of self-harm in adolescents.
When in Psychology we talk about self-harm, we are referring to a practice (that is, a pattern of behavior) that consists of inflicting harm on oneself and that is linked to the experience of physical pain. Is about a predisposition to take deliberate actions against oneself, physically. In fact, the term “self-harm” is sometimes used to talk about this phenomenon.
However, it must be taken into account that behind the habit of self-harm there is usually no emotion of anger or any feeling linked to aggressiveness. It is not necessary for the person to consider that they are “punished” for something or that they are performing an act of moral compensation, as we will see. The fundamental thing is that self-harm is an action that produces painregardless of whether one seeks to end one’s life or not.
Adolescence is a psychologically complex stage: involves going through a transition from childhood to adulthoodgoing from roles of helplessness and dependence on fathers and mothers, to another of emancipation and assumption of responsibilities.
Furthermore, one must adapt to this new status while the body undergoes physical transformations very quickly, which can lead to experiencing complexes about one’s appearance.
To this we must add the interest that adolescents have in finding acceptance and validation from their peers: They no longer try to be like their fathers and mothers, now they want to “become independent” from those references and be one of the gang, with all that that entails.
Forging one’s own identity while seeking to please others is very complex, and makes young people vulnerable to toxic dynamics: popularity competitions, marginalization and bullying situations, managing the fear of rejection in the first attempts to have couple, etc.
Taking this into account, it begins to be understood why this age group may have a greater predisposition to developing certain psychological problems, as they have a profile that is somewhat different from the rest of the population.
Technically, the number of triggers for a psychological problem that leads a young person to self-harm is practically infinite; There are as many problematic psychological mechanisms as there are individuals. These causes of self-harm may include factors such as traumatic situations experienced in childhood, a physical illness that causes constant discomfort, insecurities with one’s own bodyfeelings of guilt, and ultimately, an endless list of human experiences linked to discomfort.
However, in practice it is possible to identify some very common causes of self-harm in adolescents. Here we will see the main ones.
1. Anxiety management
As we have seen, adolescents face many possible sources of anxiety. Self-harm is used by some to “disconnect” of those worries and those anxious thoughts, as they are forced to focus on the here and now of physical pain.
2. Guilt management
In some cases, self-harm is a mechanism with which the person tries to punish himself in order to stop feeling bad for something unfair that he believes he has done.
The lack of judgment to know what to expect from people can lead some young people to develop unrealistic expectations about what is expected of them and how they should behave.
3. Establishment of semi-unconscious self-harm routines
In some cases, self-harm is an action carried out almost unconsciously, especially if it is not necessary to use an object to carry it out (for example, biting a certain part of the hands or arms). In this sense, It is similar to disorders such as trichotillomania, in which a behavior is ritualized by linking it to stress. In this way, the person does not know when he performs those actions, or why.
4. Associated psychopathologies
Sometimes self-harm is the result of a psychological disorder with its own causes and triggers.
Borderline Personality Disorder is a psychopathology in which it is very common to engage in frequent self-harm.. It also occurs with major depression and some dissociative disorders.
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