Neuroscience
Is self-disgust the emotional trigger that leads to self-harm?
To help people who perform non-lethal self-harm, such as cutting and burning themselves, we need a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings that contribute to them resorting to this behaviour. Risk factors are already known, including depression and a history of sexual abuse. However, Noelle Smith and her colleagues wondered if these factors increase the risk of self-harm because they lead people to experience self-disgust. Viewed this way, the researchers believe "self-disgust may serve as an emotional trigger" for self-harm.
Over five hundred undergrads, men and women, answered questions about whether they'd ever intentionally harmed themselves (including cutting, burning and scratching); when they'd last performed such an act; their depression symptoms; any history of physical or sexual abuse; their anxiety; and crucially, their feelings of self-disgust, as measured by 18 items, such as "I find myself repulsive".
Consistent with the researchers' predictions, the more self-disgust a student reported, the greater the likelihood that they had previously performed self-harm (statistically speaking, a one standard deviation increase in self-disgust was associated with a two-fold increase in the odds of reporting self-harm).
Levels of self-disgust were the highest in those students who said they'd performed self-harm in the last year. These were also the same students who tended to report depression symptoms and a history of physical or sexual abuse. It's notable though, that depression was no longer associated with self-harm once self-disgust was taken into account, suggesting that self-disgust is the key mediating factor.
These findings jibe with past research on the more cognitive aspects of self-disgust - for example, there's evidence that self-harm is associated with being self-critical and having an excessive focus on one's own mistakes. Other studies have highlighted reductions in self-disgust after acts of self-harm, but also increases. Smith and her colleagues suggested the link could be bi-directional: self-harm may assuage feelings of disgust with self, but performing a self-harming act may then trigger feelings of shame with one's own actions.
The cross-sectional nature of this study means it can't shed light on the direction of causality - whether self-disgust contributes to self-harm behaviours, or if the reverse is true. Self-disgust was also measured as trait, rather than as an acute state of mind. The researchers acknowledged these issues, but they note theirs is the first study to look at the emotion of self-disgust as a precipitating factor for self-harm, and they call for more research. For now, they said their results suggest reducing self-disgust may help people who are at risk of self-harm.
_________________________________
Smith, N., Steele, A., Weitzman, M., Trueba, A., & Meuret, A. (2015). Investigating the Role of Self-Disgust in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Archives of Suicide Research, 19 (1), 60-74 DOI: 10.1080/13811118.2013.850135 Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
-
Using Yuk! And Weird! To Teach Children New Morals
Some morals - such as it being wrong to hurt others - children learn because they see the distress a particular behaviour causes others, or the harm it can bring upon themselves. But other immoral behaviours don't necessarily have obvious victims....
-
For Christians, Dawkins And The Qur'an Leave A Bad Taste In The Mouth, Literally
Many studies have shown that moral disgust is "embodied". Contemplation of taboo deeds really does leave people physically sickened. Now Ryan Ritter and Jesse Preston have extended this literature to show that religious beliefs that contradict one's...
-
Goth Subculture Linked With History Of Suicide And Self Harm
A Scottish study that collected information from 1,258 teenagers when they were aged 11, 13, 15 and 19 has found particularly high rates of attempted suicide and self harm (cutting, scratching, or scoring) among those who said they identified with the...
-
The Attitude Of Casualty Staff Towards Self-harm
Every year in the UK, 150,000 people attend Accident and Emergency (A&E) having deliberately harmed themselves. These are vulnerable people, up to five per cent of whom, based on current rates, will have committed suicide within five to ten years....
-
Carnival Of Souls
The Synapse No. 3 (a neuroscience carnival) is now available for your reading pleasure at The Neurophilosopher's Blog! July 23, 2006 The Haunting By JOHN HODGMAN New York Times Magazine . . . Horror, like comedy, has always been something of a reptilian-brain...
Neuroscience