The Psychology of Self-Injury: Exploring Self-Harm & Mental Health

By: Nicholas J. Westers Psy.D. ABPP
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  • Summary

  • Why do people self-injure? And what is the best way to respond when someone tells us they self-injure? Dr. Nicholas Westers, a clinical psychologist at Children's Health and Associate Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, collaborates with the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury (ISSS) to interview the leading experts in the field of self-injury and self-harm as well as individuals with lived experience of self-injury and parents and family members of those who have self-injured. This podcast is meant to be a resource for parents, professionals, and people with lived experience.
    2021 The Psychology of Self-Injury
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Episodes
  • Lived Experience: Ellie's Story of Atypical Severe Self-Harm

    Lived Experience: Ellie's Story of Atypical Severe Self-Harm
    Nov 30 2024
    In this episode, Ellie from the United Kingdom and National Health Service (NHS) shares her lived experience of atypical severe self-injury while participating in a psychiatric inpatient stay for an acute increase in severity of eating disorder symptoms. She discusses how she has used her experiences as a patient and recipient of mental healthcare in the UK to bring about systemic change, participate as a co-producer and research, and advocate for those with lived experience of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and self-harm. While participating in our interview while in inpatient care, we invite her live-in care provider (i.e., carer), Shami, to join our conversation and offer her own insights.Connect with Ellie on LinkedIn here and on Twitter/X @EllieWildbore or @elliewildbore.bsky.social. Visit her blog at https://balancingontheborderline.home.blog/. Here are two links to Ellie being interviewed about lived experience research and her work on YouTube with the Mental Elf: https://youtu.be/HezHKYrF7zM and https://youtu.be/IA91M6fGaQo. Read the pre-print of her article referenced in this episode available for free here. Learn more about Atypical Severe Self-Injury by listening to our episode with Dr. Barry Walsh on the topic from Season 1 here. Want to have a bigger role on the podcast?:Should you or someone you know be interviewed on the podcast? We want to know! Please fill out this Google doc form, and we will be in touch with more details if it’s a good fit.Want to hear your question and have it answered on the podcast? Please send an audio clip of your question (60 seconds or less) to @DocWesters on Instagram or Twitter/X, or email us at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.comWant to be involved in research? Send us a message at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.com and we will see if we can match you to an active study.Want to interact with us through comments and polls? You can on Spotify!Follow Dr. Westers on Instagram and Twitter/X (@DocWesters). To join ISSS, visit itriples.org and follow ISSS on Facebook and Twitter/X (@ITripleS).The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot and one of the Top 100 Psychology Podcasts by Goodpods. It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal." Goodpods Top 100 Parents Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast Goodpods Top 100 Research Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Self-Injury Among Ethnically Diverse Populations, with Dr. Maryam Gholamrezaei

    Self-Injury Among Ethnically Diverse Populations, with Dr. Maryam Gholamrezaei
    Oct 25 2024
    In this episode, Maryam Gholamrezaei, PhD, C.Psych, shares about her interviews with racially and ethnically diverse individuals who self-injure, including their responses to her question, “In your culture, what is the general response to people who engage in self-harming behaviors?” She also discusses gender differences in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among different ethnic groups and offers unique insights into how the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East may influence an individual's decision to self-harm.Learn more about Dr. Gholamrezaei on her website at https://drmaryamgholamrezaei.ca/. Below are some publications written by Dr. Gholamrezaei as well as Dr. Westers' editorial:Gholamrezaei, M., Heath, N. L., Pereira, L., De Stefano, J., & Böke, B. N. (2023). Nonsuicidal self-injury, mental health service use, and cultural perspectives among ethnically diverse university students. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 42(1), 15-40.Gholamrezaei, M., De Stefano, J., & Heath, N. L. (2017). Nonsuicidal self-injury across cultures and ethnic and racial minorities: A review. International Journal of Psychology, 52(4), 316–326.Gholamrezaei, M., Heath, N., & Panaghi, L. (2016). Non-suicidal self-injury in a sample of university students in Tehran, Iran: prevalence, characteristics and risk factors. International Journal of Culture and Mental Health, 10(2), 136–149.Westers, N. J. (2024). Cultural interpretations of nonsuicidal self-injury and suicide: Insights from around the world. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29(4), 1231-1235.Want to have a bigger role on the podcast?:Should you or someone you know be interviewed on the podcast? We want to know! Please fill out this Google doc form, and we will be in touch with more details if it’s a good fit.Want to hear your question and have it answered on the podcast? Please send an audio clip of your question (60 seconds or less) to @DocWesters on Instagram or Twitter/X, or email us at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.comWant to be involved in research? Send us a message at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.com and we will see if we can match you to an active study.Want to interact with us through comments and polls? You can on Spotify!Follow Dr. Westers on Instagram and Twitter/X (@DocWesters). To join ISSS, visit itriples.org and follow ISSS on Facebook and Twitter/X (@ITripleS).The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot and one of the Top 100 Psychology Podcasts by Goodpods. It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal." Goodpods Top 100 Parents Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast Goodpods Top 100 Research Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast
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    52 mins
  • Effects of Emotions on Self-Injury Pain Perception, with Michelle Hiner

    Effects of Emotions on Self-Injury Pain Perception, with Michelle Hiner
    Sep 27 2024
    Does the emotion someone experiences immediately preceding an episode of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) influence how painful that episode of self-harm feels? In this episode, Michelle Hiner, MS, a Clinical Psychology PhD student in the Emotion and Psychopathology (EmP) Lab at Rutgers University in New Jersey talks about how individuals who self-harm after experiencing high arousal negative emotions (HANEs), like anger, experience pain differently than those who self-injure after experiencing low arousal negative emotions (LANEs), like sadness and dissociation. Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn here, and learn more about the Emotion and Psychopathology (EmP) Lab here. Below are some papers referenced in this episode:Drummond, P. D. (1995). Noradrenaline increases hyperalgesia to heat in skin sensitized by capsaicin. Pain, 60(3), 311-315.Wiercioch-Kuzianik, K., & Bąbel, P. (2019). Color hurts. The effect of color on pain perception. Pain Medicine, 20(10), 1955-1962.Paul, E., Tsypes, A., Eidlitz, L., Ernhout, C., & Whitlock, J. (2015). Frequency and functions of non-suicidal self-injury: Associations with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Psychiatry Research, 225(3), 276–282.Want to have a bigger role on the podcast?:Should you or someone you know be interviewed on the podcast? We want to know! Please fill out this Google doc form, and we will be in touch with more details if it’s a good fit.Want to hear your question and have it answered on the podcast? Please send an audio clip of your question (60 seconds or less) to @DocWesters on Instagram or Twitter/X, or email us at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.comWant to be involved in research? Send us a message at thepsychologyofselfinjury@gmail.com and we will see if we can match you to an active study.Want to interact with us through comments and polls? You can on Spotify!Follow Dr. Westers on Instagram and Twitter/X (@DocWesters). To join ISSS, visit itriples.org and follow ISSS on Facebook and Twitter/X (@ITripleS).The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot and one of the Top 100 Psychology Podcasts by Goodpods. It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal." Goodpods Top 100 Parents Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast Goodpods Top 100 Research Podcasts Listen now to The Psychology of Self-Injury: ExploringSelf-Harm & Mental Health podcast
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    47 mins

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