Preventing the Occurrence of Self-Harming Behaviors - Research Paper Example

? Emotion regulation techniques and preventing the occurrence of self-harming behaviors Emotions can hurt us and also it can help us in manyways. Uncontrolled emotional outbursts can result in severe self damages and damages to others. There are many cases, in which people engage in self harming behaviors as a result of their lack of abilities in controlling their emotions. Emotion regulation is necessary for every human to conduct a healthy and peaceful life. In order to control the unhealthy emotions, the reasons which motivate us for a particular harmful emotion should be controlled. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic treatments, pharmacotherapy etc are the major treatment options available for emotion regulation or treating self harming behaviors. Response modulation is another technique used to control emotions. This paper analyses different emotion regulation techniques and preventing the occurrence of self-harming behaviors. Emotion regulation techniques and preventing the occurrence of self-harming behaviors “Emotions can hurt us as well as help us. They do so when they are of wrong type, when they come at the wrong time or when they occur at the wrong intensity level” (Lewis et al, 2010, p.498). For example, crying will help us to relieve our emotions. Many people use the weeping mechanism to relive their emotions when they lose some of their beloved ones. In other words, in, crying helped us to relive our emotions. At the same time, there are many cases, in which people appears to be calm when they lose their beloved ones. Such people are suppressing their sorrow or emotions. Suppression of emotions often cause psychological problems and it may come out in different forms. In some cases, such people may try to cause self injuries. In short, emotions can help us and hurt us. The outcome depends on how well we manage our emotions. According to Gratz (2007), “deliberate self-injury is a serious clinical concern. Although this behavior is distinguished from suicidal behaviors, individuals who engage in self-injury are at heightened risk for suicide attempts, sometimes due to demoralization over an inability to control acts of self-injury” (Gratz, 2007, p.1091&1092). Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a highly debated topic among psychologists and sociologists. The reasons why people cause self injury even without an intention of suicide is still an unanswered question even though many hypothesizes are there. Emotional regulation is necessary for a person to act wisely. Over emotions may bring more harm than good; not only to the person, but also to the surroundings. By nature, all the living things have emotions. The influence of emotions on human being is more than that on other living things. At the same time, it is not necessary that two people are similar emotionally. In other words, different people have different mental abilities and they respond differently to a particular stimulus. For example, over emotions may force a person to cause self injury when they meet some distracting realities like the death of some of their beloved ones. On the other hand, emotionally sound personalities manage such situations more quietly without causing any self damages or damages to others. In short, emotion deregulation often leads towards unwanted activities which should be prevented using suitable techniques. Emotion regulation techniques for preventing self-harming behaviors In order to prevent self harming behavior, or Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), the reasons which motivate the individual for NSSI should be controlled or avoided. There are many reasons cited for the self harming behavior. Hilt et al, (2008) have pointed out that ‘increases in rates of internal distresses (e.g., feeling bad about oneself, experiencing negative emotions), specifically depressive symptoms, occur during early adolescence in girls should be prevented in order to avoid self harming behavior in future (Hilt et al, 2008, p.64). Girls are more beauty conscious than boys and they always give more attention in preserving their beauty. However, it is quite possible that they may become agitated over their appearance, shape or looks when they come across with other beautiful girls. Whenever, such girls watching their images in the mirror, they may try to compare their appearance with that of the other girls they may come across in their daily life. These comparisons often lead towards the development of distresses which may come out in the form of self damaging behavior. In order to prevent such self harming behaviors, of girls, they should be given psychological education to accept their individuality or personality rather than comparing it with that of others. Gratz,(2007) has pointed out that when treating emotion dysregulation among deliberately self-injuring clients, the value of psychological treatments that emphasize emotional acceptance will be more effective than anything else (Gratz, 2007, p. 1101) Heath et al, (2008) have pointed out that childhood trauma and abuse and observed emotion regulation difficulties etc can also cause self damaging behavior (Heath et al, 2008, p.150). Childhood experience plays an important role in the development of a child. Good experiences will always affect him positively whereas bad experiences will always produce vengeance in the minds of the children. Sexually exploited children will always develop negative feelings and negative thoughts. It is difficult for them to control their negative thoughts or feelings about their bitter childhood experiences beyond certain limits. At some point of time an emotional breakdown may occurs and the child may engage in self harming behavior. Klonsky. & Muehlenkamp, (2007) have pointed out that individuals who self-injure are more likely to exhibit certain psychological characteristics and the most prominent of these features is perhaps negative emotionality (Klonsky & Muehlenkamp, 2007, p.1047). Bitter childhood experiences always result in negative emotionality which the children may carry till the end of their life, if not treated or managed properly. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic treatments, pharmacotherapy etc often suggested for treating self harming behaviors. Klonsky & Muehlenkamp, (2007) have mentioned that Cognitive–behavioral therapies have received the most research attention as evidence based treatment for reducing self-injury (Klonsky & Muehlenkamp, 2007, p. 1051). “The process of CBT might involve the modulation of emotional arousal, reducing impulsivity and facilitating behavior that is in accordance with desired goals” (Slee et al, 2008, p.213). CBT give more emphasize to the thinking abilities of the patients. It forces the patients to think in a particular way to identify and rectify his problems or unacceptable behavior. CBT is a combination of behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy. In other words, the patient is directed towards positive behaviors by the modification of the cognitive elements. Nock et al (2007) also pointed out the effectiveness of behavioral therapy in treating emotion controls and self harming behaviors. “A recent review of 35 years of research which included 396 articles and 706 participants revealed that behavior therapy approaches yielded an 80% reduction in self-injury over the course of the interventions” (Nock et al, 2007, p.1083). Based on the theory that emotion dysregulation is the primary mechanism underlying BPD and its related behaviors, Linehan (1993) developed dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) as a comprehensive treatment for BPD among chronically self-injuring and/or suicidal women. DBT combines traditional cognitive–behavioral approaches with acceptance- and mindfulness-based approaches (Gratz, 2007, p. 1095) Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is another treatment which has gained much popularity in treating self damaging behaviors. It is a combinational treatment option including the elements of behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, client-centered therapy etc. As in the case of behavioral therapy, the core of Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is also the behavioral change. At the same time acceptance is recognized as the major feature which differentiate DBT from CBT. DBT mainly focuses on achieving a balance between change and acceptance. In other words, the DBT therapists try to implement changes in patients by cultivating a sense of acceptance in the minds of the patients. Psychodynamic treatments are the third option available for self damaging patients. In psychodynamic treatment, “processing past relationships and building new, positive interpersonal relationships; increasing awareness and expression of affect; and focusing upon the development of a client’s self-image etc occurs (Klonsky. & Muehlenkamp, 2007, p. 1052). After the psychodynamic treatment, the patient will be well equipped to deal with unfamiliar situations of complex life realities. The fourth treatment option available for preventing self damaging behavior is pharmacotherapy. “The usefulness of pharmacotherapy for reducing many of the symptoms of mental disorders that co-occurs with self-injury, such as depression and anxiety” (Klonsky. & Muehlenkamp, 2007, p. 1053). Pharmacotherapy is the psychological treatment with the help of medicines. There are many medicines available in the market at present for treating psychological diseases. These medicines can be used effectively to control self damaging behavior. Response modulation is an emotion regulation technique. “One of the forms of response modulation is expressive suppression which refers to the attempt to decrease ongoing emotion expressive behavior” (Lewis et al, 2010, p.504). Emotions regulation cannot be achieved with the help of medicines or treatment alone. The person himself should make deliberate attempt to take control over the expression which leads him towards emotional outbursts or self harming behavior. Self management is better than any other options in controlling self harming behavior. “Emotions are generally conceptualized as multifaceted, embodied phenomena that involve loosely coupled changes in the domains of subjective experience, behavior, and peripheral physiology” (Lewis et al, 2010, p.498). Emotions are associated with so many things. It is not necessary that an emotion may develop as a result of single stimulus alone. For example, people often feel happy when they got some achievements in their life or when their beloved ones got some achievements in their life. In both the cases, they may develop the emotion of happiness. Same way, it is quite possible that people may develop sorrow when they lost their beloved ones or valuable properties. In such cases, they may develop immense sorrow. In any case, it is necessary to identify the root cause in order to manage the developed emotions successfully. Gratz (2007) has pointed out that apart from emotion regulation skills, certain distress tolerance skills may also help us in controlling our emotions. “Distress tolerance skills teach clients to tolerate and accept emotional distress, and emphasize the benefits of accepting one’s emotions without trying to change or alter these emotions, and accepting reality for what it is in the moment” (Gratz, 2007, p. 1095). The success of emotion control techniques depends on how well the patient is able to accept the realities of life. In many cases, the people who fail to manage their emotions might have lived in an imaginary world. They might have their own perceptions about life which need not be correct. Only when they face the realities of life, they may realize that their perceptions were wrong. It is difficult for such people to accept the reality immediately. They will take some time before they cope up with the realities. However, the time period between the acceptance of realities and the occurrence of unfamiliar or unexpected incidents is crucial. During this period, the person may face immense emotional problems as a result of frustration, dejection, lack of self esteem or self belief. This time period can be better managed with the help of distress tolerance skills. Self soothing techniques and soothing by others can help the person to come out from such serious situations. “Self-injury is most often a strategy to alleviate intense, overwhelming negative emotions. Emotions such as anger, anxiety, and frustration tend to be present before self-injury, and self-injury is often followed by feelings of relief or calm”(Klonsky & Muehlenkamp, 2007, p. 1049). Self injury is a stress relieving mechanism adopted by the mentally weak people. Stress or emotions are similar to energy. Energy cannot be accumulated to a particular place. For example, if over current flow occurs in an electrical circuit, the electrical or electronic components could be burned or damaged. Same way it is difficult for a person to accumulate emotions more than certain limits. He will try to release some of his emotions or stresses in a particular way. Self harming behavior is often selected as the stress relieving mechanism since it may not cause any harm to others. Conclusions Emotions can bring both goods and evils in the life of a person. When emotions, dictate wisdom, unhealthy incidents may happen in the life of a person. Emotion regulation is necessary for conducting a healthy life. Negative emotions can destroy the wisdom and it can lead towards unacceptable behaviors such as self harming. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), Psychodynamic treatments, pharmacotherapy, response modulation, developing distress tolerance skills etc are often suggested for emotion regulation or to control self harming behaviors. References 1. Gratz, K. L.(2007), Targeting Emotion Dysregulation in the Treatment of Self-Injury. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: IN SESSION, Vol. 63(11), 1091–1103 (2007) Wiley Periodicals, Inc.DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20417 2. Heath N.L., Toste J.r., Nedecheva T. and Charlebois A (2008). An Examination of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Among College Students. Journal of Mental Health Counseling Volume 30/Number 2/April 2008/Pages 137–156. 3. Hilt L.M., Cha C.B. and Hoeksema S.N (2008).Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Young Adolescent Girls: Moderators of the Distress–Function Relationship. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. American Psychological Association 2008, Vol. 76, No. 1, 63–71, DOI: 10.1037/0022-006X.76.1.63. 4. Klonsky E.D. & Muehlenkamp J.J (2007). Self-Injury: A Research Review for the Practitioner JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 63(11), 1045–1056 (2007) Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20412 5. Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J.M & Barrett L.F. (2010) Handbook of Emotions. Guilford Press, 2010 6. Nock M.K, Teper R. and Hollander M. (2007).Psychological Treatment of Self- Injury Among AdolescentsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: IN SESSION, Vol. 63(11), 1081–1089 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 7. Slee,N, Spinhoven P, Garnefski N and Arensman E. (2008). Emotion Regulation as Mediator of Treatment Outcome in Therapy for Deliberate Self-Harm. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.577 Read More