Citation

Nobakht HN, Dale KY. J. Trauma Dissociation 2016; 18(4): 610-623.

Affiliation

Department of Health and Social Sciences , Molde University College , Molde , Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15299732.2016.1246397

PMID

27736465

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of Deliberate self-harm and its relationship to childhood and recent trauma and different patterns of dissociative features. 100 men and 100 women among college students were administered a 58-item questionnaire designed to detect the extent of dissociation, Deliberate self-harm and trauma history, respectively. Participants with Deliberate self-harm behaviors reported more traumatic experiences and dissociative features than participants without such behaviors. Furthermore, the prevalence of Deliberate self-harm, i.e. 40.5%, was similar to previous studies on college student populations. However, and contrary to earlier research, Deliberate self-harm was significantly more prevalent among men (48%) than women (33%).The findings support the notion that trauma, pathological dissociation and depersonalization/derealization play important functional roles in self-harm behaviors. In this perspective, it is feasible to understand individuals who engage in self-harm as either escaping from uncomfortable dissociative states or experiencing an infra-psychological conflict where one dissociative part of the self is being abusive towards another.

Language: en