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Addiction to self-harm? The case of online postings on self-harm message boards
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Davis, Sarah and Lewis, Christopher Alan (2019) Addiction to self-harm? The case of online postings on self-harm message boards. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17 . pp. 1020-1035. doi:10.1007/s11469-018-9975-8 ISSN 1557-1874.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9975-8
Abstract
Presently, there is limited research investigating the addictive nature of self-harm, even though non-suicidal self-injury disorder has been included in the DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association 2013) for over 5 years. The aim of the present study was to build on the existing literature by examining self-harm discussions on Internet message boards to examine if themes related to addiction are present. A sample of 500 online postings from four forums were analysed to examine whether self-harm has an addictive nature. Postings were extracted, read, and re-read before being coded using inductive content analysis to identify themes. Six themes were identified: “Urge/Obsession”, “Relapse”, “Can’t/Don’t want to stop”, “Coping mechanism”, “Hiding/Shame”, and “Getting worse/Not enough”. Postings revealed there can be cravings to engage in self-harm behaviour, not wanting or being able to stop, returning to the behaviour, self-harm being a coping mechanism, shame, and the behaviour becoming worse. This study has demonstrated that repetitive self-harming seems to have addictive aspects.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Education Studies (2013- ) | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Self-mutilation, Self-destructive behavior, Compulsive behavior, Electronic discussion groups | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction | ||||||||
Publisher: | Springer New York LLC | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1557-1874 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 15 August 2019 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 17 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1020-1035 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1007/s11469-018-9975-8 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9975-8 | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 October 2018 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 27 September 2019 |
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