Citation

Muehlenkamp JJ, Kerr PL. Prev. Res. 2010; 17(1): 8-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Integrated Research Services)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Practitioners, physicians, school personnel, parents, and many others are starting to see more and more teenagers engage in acts of self-inflicted injuries, such as cutting or burning of the skin. These types of behaviors are referred to as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and are creating a surge of concern about how teens are coping with the stressors they face. Current estimates of the lifetime prevalence of NSSI in high school students tends to average 20%, although rates vary widely across specific samples and can be as high as 46% (e.g.. Heath, Schaub, Holly, & Nixon, 2009). Also of concern are the high rates of suicide attempts among adolescents. Suicide remains the third leading cause of death for adolescents, and studies find that the yearly suicide attempt rate in adolescents is around 8.5% (Center for Disease Control, 2009). The high rates of both NSSI and suicide attempts in adolescents warrants considerable focus for prevention initiatives, especially given findings that many adolescents who attempt suicide have also engaged in NSSI at some point in their life, and those who engage in NSSI are at elevated risk for a future suicide attempt. The relationship between NSSI and suicidal behavior is complex and often difficult to untangle. While most self-injurers never exhibit suicidality, there is evidence of a correlation between suicidality and NSSI. Empirical research has found that approximately 28?55% of self injurers experience suicidal thoughts during episodes of NSSI (Favazza, 1996). Researchers have also estimated that as many as 70% of individuals with a history of repetitive NSSI will attempt suicide at some point during their life (Nock et al., 2006). Furthermore, these two behaviors share many correlates of potential risk such as conflicted interpersonal relationships, poor problem-solving skills, childhood abuse histories, high levels of self-criticism, and psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., Skegg, 2005). Thus, there is clearly an overlap of risk between these behaviors, and it becomes important to both prevention and intervention efforts to understand the primary differences between them. While NSSI is not a suicide attempt, it is an indicator that something is not right in the life of the person engaging in the behavior and needs to be taken seriously. One way to enhance the likelihood someone with NSSI will seek help is by educating professionals about the key ways in which NSSI and suicide differ so that inappropriate "over-reactions" to the NSSI can be minimized and effective treatment (e.g., Muehlenkamp, 2006) can occur. The goal of this article is to describe the primary differences between NSSI and suicide.