Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T01:27:21.353Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deliberate self-injury. A consumer-therapist co-run group. A choice or a necessity?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2011

Efrosini D. Kokaliari  and
Kristen Lanzano
Efrosini D. Kokaliari*
Affiliation:
Elms College, Chicopee MA, USA
Kristen Lanzano
Affiliation:
Smith College, Chicopee MA, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. E.D. Kokaliari. Social Work Department, Elms College, 291 Springfield street, Chicopee, MA 01013 (USA). Fax: +413-5948996 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Aims — This aim of this paper is to discuss a consumer -therapist co-run pilot group on self-injury held at an American college. Deliberate self-injury has come to be a common phenomenon in schools and colleges. However the treatment and understanding of self-injury still remains a challenge. Most people who self-injure remain hidden in society and do not seek therapy, due to the shame-filled stereotypes and misconceptions that surround self-injury. Group therapy has been discussed as ineffective by many in the mental health field while individual treatment has been controversial for decades. Method — The paper will discuss how this group treatment was informed by consumer empowerment philosophy and how consumer and therapist facilitators worked together to turn it into a healing experience. Results — This group was indeed challenging but confirmed that consumer- run programs are able to function as a catalyst to facilitate healing. It confirmed that breaking away from traditional models that allocate all power and hope for change to professionals might not only be an important step but, in cases such as treatment of self-injury, a necessity.

Declaration of Interest: none.

Type
Inclusion and Mental Health in the New Europe
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 14 , Issue 1: Inclusion and Mental Health in the New Europe , March 2005 , pp. 32 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L.A. (1999). The functions of self-injury and its link to traumatic events in college students. Dissertation (Doctoral). University of Massachusetts: Amherst.Google Scholar
Bywaters, P. & Rolfe, A. (2002). Look Beyond the Scars: Understanding and Responding to Self-Injury and Self-Harm. NCH: London.Google Scholar
Conterio, K. & Lader, W. (1998). Bodily Harm: the Breakthrough Healing Program for Self-lnjurers. Hyperion: New York.Google Scholar
Corrigan, P.W. & Garman, A.N. (1997). Considerations for research on consumer empowerment and psychosocial interventions. Psychiatric Senices 48, 347–352.Google Scholar
Deiter, J.P.. Nicholls, S.S. & Pearlman, L.A. (2000). Self-injury and selfcapacities: Assisting an individual in crisis. Journal of Clinical Psychology 56, 1173–1191.Google Scholar
Edwards, T. (1998). What the cutter feels. New York Times Magazine 152(19). 93–95.Google Scholar
Farber, S.K. (2000). When the Body Is the Target: Self-Harm, Pain, and Traumatic Attachments. Jason Aronson: Northvale, NJ.Google Scholar
Forster, R. (1998). “Patient advocacy in psychiatry: the Austrian and the Dutch models” International Journal of Social Work 41(2). 155–167.Google Scholar
Favazza, A.R. (1996). Bodies under Siege: Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry 2nd ed. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Favazza, A.R. & Conterio, K. (1988). The plight of chronic self-mutilators. Community Mental Health Journal 24. 22–30.Google Scholar
Favazza, A.R. & Conterio, K. (1989). Female habitual self-mutilators. Ada Psychialrica Scandinavica 49, 283–289.Google Scholar
Feldman, M. (1988). The challenge of self-mutilation: a review. Comprehensive Psychiatry 29(3), 252–269.Google Scholar
Fountain, A.R. (2001). Self-injurious behaviour in university undergraduate students. Dissertation (Doctoral). University of Massachusetts: Amherst.Google Scholar
Gardner, D.L. & Cowdry, R.W. (1985). Suicidal and parasuicidal behaviour in borderline personality disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 8(2), 389–403.Google Scholar
Geller, J., Brown, M.. Fisher, W.. Grudzinskas, A. & Manning, T. (1998). A national survey of ‘consumer empowerment” at the state level. Psychiatric Service 4. 498–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gratz, K.L.. Corad, S.D. & Roemer, L. (2002). Risk factors for deliberate self-harm among college students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 72(1). 128–140.Google Scholar
Karp, D. (1997). Speaking of Sadness. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Katz, T. (1984). Empowerment and synergy: expanding the community's healing resources. Prevention in Human Senices 3. 201–226.Google Scholar
Kokaliari, E. (2000). Empowerment in mental health care: a comparativc study in residential settings between Britain. Greece and the Netherlands. Thesis (Masters). University of Portsmouth. U.K.Google Scholar
Kokaliari, E. (2004). Deliberate self-injury. An investigation of its prevalence and psychosocial meanings in a non-clinical female college population. Dissertation (Doctoral). Smith College School for Social Work: Chicopee. MA.Google Scholar
Lammcrs, J. & Happell, B. (2003). Consumer participation in mental health services: looking from a consumer perspective. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 10. 386–392.Google Scholar
Ling, S. (2002). Clouded Judgements: Young Women who Self-Harm. Sexual Assault Support Service: Tasmania. Australia.Google Scholar
, Lorenz (1994). Social Work in a Changing Europe. Routledge: London.Google Scholar
Novonty, P. (1972). Self-cutting. Bulletin Menninger Clinic 36, SOSSI 4.Google Scholar
Payne, M. (1997). Modern Social Work Theory. 2nd ed. MacMillan Press: London.Google Scholar
Phillips, R.H. & Alkan, M. (1961). Recurrent self-mutilation. Psychiatric Quarterly 35. 424–426.Google Scholar
Rappaport, J. (1984). Studies in empowerment. Prevention in Human Senices 3. 1–7.Google Scholar
Read, J. & Wallcraft, J. (1992). Guidelines for Empowering Users of Mental Health Services. Mind Publications: London.Google Scholar
Riger, S. (1993). What's wrong with empowerment? American Journal of Community Psychology 21(3). 279–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, E.S.. Chamberlin, J.. Ellison, M.L. & Crean, T. (1997). A consumer-constructed scale to measure empowerment among users of mental health services. Psychiatric Senices 48(8). 1042–1047.Google Scholar
Rosen, P., & Walsh, B. (1989). Relationship patterns in episodes of selfmutilative contagion. American Journal of Psychiatry 146, 656–658.Google Scholar
Salzcr, M. (1997). Consumer empowerment in mental health organizations: concept benefits and impediments. Administration and Policy in Mental Health 24, 425–434.Google Scholar
Shaw, N. (2002). The complexity and paradox of female self-injury: Historical portrayals, journeys toward stopping, and contemporary interventions. Dissertation (Doctoral). Harvard University: Cambridge. MA.Google Scholar
Segal, S.. Silverman, C. & Temkin, T. (1995). Measuring empowerment in client-run selp-help agencies”. Community Mental Journal. 31(3). 215–227.Google Scholar
Strong, M. (1998). A Bright Red Scream: Self-Mutilation and the Language of Pain. Penguin Books: New York.Google Scholar
Sutton, J. (1999). Healing the Hurt within: Understand and Relieve the Suffering behind Self-Destructive Behaviour. How to Books: Oxford.Google Scholar
Turp, M. (1999). Encountering self-harm in psychotherapy and counselling practice. British Journal of Psychotherapy 15(3). 306–321.Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General- Executive Summary. Rockville. MD.Google Scholar
van der Kolk, B.A., Perry, J.C. & Herman, J.L. (1991). Childhood origins of self-destructive behaviour. American Journal of Psychiatry 148. 1665–1671.Google Scholar
Walsh, B. & Rosen, P. (1988). Self-Mutilation: Theory, Research and Practice. Guildford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Zila, L.M. & Kiselica, S.M. (2001). Understanding and counselling selfmutilation in female adolescents and young adults. Journal of Counselling and Development 79. 46–52.Google Scholar