Self-injury in trauma survivors: 1. functions and meanings.
Self-injury is increasingly linked to traumatic childhood experiences, and is identified in this paper as a means by which some trauma survivors cope with post-traumatic effects. It is proposed that self-injury serves a number of functions, organized here into four categories: re-enactment of the original trauma, expression of feelings and needs, reorganization of the self, and management of dissociative process.
Connors
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D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D004532:Ego; D006801:Humans; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*