Self-Injury and Borderline Personality Disorder
People with Borderline Personality Disorder [BPD] seem to fluctuate between extremes...seeing the world as a more black and white; all-or-nothing experience. They frequently do things that undermine their own success.
For People with BPD, Self-Inflicted Violence [SIV] serves several functions:
Self-Injury is a direct response to overwhelming psychological pain. The emotions during those moments of stillness are often incredibly intense and self-inflicted violence is a method of relieving and releasing some of those feelings.
SIV is a way of releasing mounting tension; or to express anger. It is sometimes used because the person feels that they are unable to feel and they want to feel something...or, ironically, it is because they "feel too much" emotion. For some, SIV helps because the person is unable to handle any kind of feelings or emotions, whether it is "good" or "bad". It is used to "feel real". In the afore-mentioned list, they are considered ways of self-soothing for many with BPD.
People with BPD often feel frightened by the thoughts, memories and emotions that emerge during their moments of calm. Inflicting self-injury is a way of releasing those feelings. It also serves as a way to prevent those feelings from emerging further. The dissociation that often accompanies self-injury pulls the plug on those overwhelming emotional states.
Why do People Self Injure?
It is probably a result of many different factors, among them:
Lack of role models and invalidation--most people who self-injure were chronically invalidated, in that they never learened appropriate ways of expressing emotion and may have learned that emotions are bad and to be avoided. "Some self injurers come from relatively healthy homes; a majority grew up under harrowing circumstances" This quote comes from the book Bodily Harm" by Karen Conterio.
Bioligical predispostion--evidence is accumulating that indicates self-injurers have specific problems within the brain's serotonergic system that cause an increase in impulsivity and aggression.
Basically the injuries produced through SIV provide another type of chaos to focus on. The wounds allow a transfer of attention from the origional distressing emotions and experiences to the new emotions and experiences resulting from the self-injury. There are also a variety of psychological/medical conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD], Depression, Dissocative Disorders, and Personality Disorders in which Self Injury is commonly found to be happening.
To summerize why people self injure:
It's a way to self-nurture.
It's a form of communication.
It's a method of coping
It is a way to physically express the emotional and/or psychological pain.
It's a way to terminate states of emotional deadness.
It's a form of self-punishment.
But perhaps more than any other reason, it's a way to establish control [of your own life].
For whatever reason, the person may feel safer experiencing emotions linked to self-injury than those emotions linked to past emotions, ways that may be easier tolerated because it can be calming or a need to channel, focus or contain our chaotic inner sensations.
The above is a partial excerpt from a speech I gave in 2000 at a special meeting for the Professional Community where I live. I am not a Counselor, Therapist or Doctor: I am simply a person who self-injures and wanted to find a way to educate the professionals to why many people Self-injure, and to give them a better understanding of Borderline Personality Disorder from a more personal standpoint. I will be putting more of the speech on this website in the very near future. I hope it will help someone to at least understand the why's of Self-Injury.
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