"Can brain scans help reduce the guilt and shame associated with adolescent self-harm?"

 From The Mental Elf 02-03-21

"Deliberate self-harm amongst young people is a rapidly growing phenomena with as many as 45% of adolescents thought to have tried it at some point (Nock, 2010; Muehlenkamp et al., 2012). For the most part, self-harm is a form of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), that is, a deliberate act of harm without the intention of dying (Nock 2010; Brent et al. 2013).  Whilst self-harm may not start with suicidal intentions, it is recognised to be a significant risk factor for future attempts (Asarnow et al. 2011; Chesin et al. 2017).  Understanding more about connections in the parts of the brain active or underactive in self-harm, may help in developing targeted therapies thus preventing decline into suicidal behaviours. It may also help challenge the stigma around NSSI being a form of attention-seeking behaviour (Burke et al. 2019; Favazza, 1998; Gratz, 2006)."

"It has long been understood that NSSI is a dysfunctional coping strategy to help regulate emotional distress (Klonsky et al. 2011; Nock 2010). But why and how does the act of doing something that seemingly goes against nature, help with emotion regulation? The answer lies within activation of the amygdala (Plener et al. 2012), the brain’s emotion control centre; physiological research demonstrates high levels of activity in this region in young people who self-harm (Nock & Mendes 2008)."

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