Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Mar;19(3):20.
doi: 10.1007/s11920-017-0767-9.

Non-suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence

Rebecca C Brown  1 , Paul L Plener  2
Affiliations
Review

Non-suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescence

Rebecca C Brown et al. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common mental health threat among adolescents. This review aims to present the current literature on epidemiology, etiology, and therapeutic approaches with a focus on the period of adolescence.

Recent findings: NSSI is widespread among adolescents both in community as well as in clinical settings with lifetime prevalence rates between 17 and 60% in recent studies. It is influenced by multiple factors including social contagion, interpersonal stressors, neurobiological background, as well as emotional dysregulation and adverse experiences in childhood. There is still a lack of studies regarding the psychotherapeutic as well as the psychopharmacological treatment of NSSI in adolescence. Furthermore, sufficient evidence for prevention programs is missing.

Keywords: Adolescents; NSSI; Non-suicidal self-injury; Self-harm; Suicidality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Rebecca C. Brown and Paul L. Plener report no conflicts of interest for this paper. Rebecca C. Brown has received funding from the state graduate program; Paul L. Plener has received research funding from the German federal ministry of research and education, the German federal agency for drugs and medical products, the German research foundation, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Foundation, Lundbeck pharmaceuticals, and the Volkswagen Foundation.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by the authors have been previously published and complied with all applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki declaration and its amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and international/national/institutional guidelines).

References

    1. Lloyd-Richardson EE, Perrine N, Dierker L, Kelley ML. Characteristics and functions of non-suicidal self-injury in a community sample of adolescents. Psychol Med. 2007;37(8):1183–92. doi: 10.1017/S003329170700027X. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zetterqvist M. The DSM-5 diagnosis of nonsuicidal self-injury disorder: a review of the empirical literature. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2015;9:31. doi: 10.1186/s13034-015-0062-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Plener P, Schumacher T, Munz L, Groschwitz R. The longitudinal course of non-suicidal self-injury and deliberate self-harm: a systematic review of the literature. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2015;2(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s40479-014-0024-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5. Arlington, USA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
    1. Ross S, Heath N. A study of the frequency of self-mutilation in a community sample of adolescents. J Youth Adolesc. 2002;31:67–77. doi: 10.1023/A:1014089117419. - DOI

Substances