On the Creative Edge: Exploring Motivations for Creating Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Content Online (original) (raw)
Related papers
Self-harm and social media: thematic analysis of images posted on three social media sites
BMJ Open, 2019
ObjectivesTo explore the nature of images tagged as self-harm on popular social media sites and what this might tell us about how these sites are used.DesignA visual content and thematic analysis of a sample of 602 images captured from Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.ResultsOver half the images tagged as self-harm had no explicit representation of self-harm. Where there was explicit representation, self-injury was the most common; none of these portrayed images of graphic or shocking self-injury. None of the images we captured specifically encouraged self-harm or suicide and there was no image that could be construed as sensationalising self-harm.Four themes were found across the images: communicating distress, addiction and recovery, gender and the female body, identity and belonging.ConclusionsFindings suggest that clinicians should not be overly anxious about what is being posted on social media. Although we found a very few posts suggesting self-injury was attractive, there were n...
Analysis of nonsuicidal self-injury posts on Twitter: A quantitative and qualitative research
Research, Society and Development, 2021
Retrospective study, of mixed approach, with quantitative and qualitative approaches, with the objective of analyzing posts about non-suicidal self-harm on Twitter. The posts were collected through screen capture, transcribed and encoded. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, association tests and multiple logistic regression, with a significance level of 5%. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke. In the results, female profile tweets and potentially harmful content prevailed. The expression of the suicidal behavior of the author of the post was associated with the encouragement of non-suicidal self-harm and increased chances of sharing and commenting on the posts. Reply posts were more likely to receive likes and comments. Posts encouraging non-suicidal self-harm describe social manifestations of behavior and exposure to non-suicidal self-harm through mass communication. The results bring important discussions about the p...
DIGITAL HEALTH, 2020
Objectives #selfharm has been blocked by Instagram, but manoeuvring hashtags (e.g. #selfharn) are beginning to appear in order for secret non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) communities to communicate. The purpose of this study was to (a) determine the nature of the #selfharn conversation on Instagram, (b) analyze common properties of the visual content (i.e. images and videos; n = 93) tagged with #selfharn, and (c) discover what kind of environment the authors ( n = 50) of #selfharn were creating. Methods A multi-method approach was utilized for this study. Netlytic was used to generate a text and content analysis to examine the authors’ captions and comments ( n = 8772) associated with #selfharn (collected over a seven-day period). Results After removing #selfharn from the dataset, the text analysis revealed that #depression ( n = 3081) and #suicide ( n = 2270) were the most commonly used terms associated with #selfharn. Overall, 52% ( n = 4386) of the popular words/phrases related wi...
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in the Media
PsycEXTRA Dataset
Entering "self-injury" as a search term in Google yields over 15 million results. Using the same term to search YouTube brings up 2,140 videos!. Self-injury appears in popular movies , music lyrics, and music videos. It is described in books, the news, and on the Internet. Ask any adolescent today what self-injury is, and not only will he or she likely be able to define it, nearly half asked will personally know someone who has engaged in the behavior. Self-injury has become such a part of the social landscape today there are even jokes about it: "I wish my grass were Emo so it would cut itself." How are these two phenomena, presence of self-injury in the media and widespread knowledge of it in adolescent populations, related? Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is defined as the deliberate, self-inflicted destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent and for purposes not SOcially sanctioned (International Society for the Study of Self-Injury, 2007). Notably common in adolescent and young adult populations (e.g., ages 13-24), studies have found that between 14% and 23% have engaged in NSSI at some point in their lives (e.g.
Online disinhibition and internet communication of non‐suicidal self‐injury
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2020
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been defined as the deliberate destruction of bodily tissue without suicidal intent (Nock, 2009). NSSI manifests through several methods that include cutting, burning, stabbing, and hitting of one's own body, and the behavior often onsets in early adolescence (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In a meta-analysis and meta-regression of non-clinical samples, pooled prevalence rates for NSSI across the lifespan were found to be 17.2% in adolescents, 13.4% in young adults, and 5.5% in adults
The Scope of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury on YouTube
PEDIATRICS, 2011
WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Given its high rates (14 -24%) and co-occurrence with psychiatric difficulties, nonsuicidal self-injury among youth is worrisome. With more youth using video-sharing Web sites, such as YouTube, nonsuicidal self-injury-themed videos may be normalized and reinforced among youth who self-injure.
Media, the Internet, and nonsuicidal self-injury
Understanding nonsuicidal self-injury: Origins, assessment, and treatment., 2009
ABSTRACT This chapter is dedicated to a review of literature, theories, and a nascent empirical study germane to the role of the media on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). We begin with a review of the forms of mass communication available daily to most individuals within and outside of the United States followed by a brief discussion of empirical linkages between media exposure and NSSI, aggression, and suicide. We then present preliminary findings from our study of the links between self-injury and media and examine several of the key theoretical mechanisms through which media and the Internet may influence youth behavior. Finally, we discuss implications for clinical practice and community-based intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Cutting on-line: Self-injury and the internet
Http Dx Doi Org 10 5172 Jamh 9 2 177, 2014
For people who self-injure, the internet can provide an anonymous environment where users feel safe to divulge feelings and experiences which are not usually socially sanctioned. However, internet users can encourage each other to engage in self-destructive behaviour. This qualitative study aimed to simulate a typical search an adolescent might perform if he/she was looking for support and information about self-injury. The aim was to determine whether the resulting content was helpful or harmful. Seven queries -'cutting', 'self injury', 'self-injury', 'self harm', 'self-harm', 'self-mutilation', and 'self mutilation' -were entered into www.google.com and each link from the first webpage from each search was opened and judged for relevancy. Thirty-nine links were analysed and grouped into five categories: websites (n=5); webpages (n=11); book results (n=8); news results (n=11); and other (n=4). Examination of the quality and content of the links obtained from our search showed mainly recovery oriented, supportive information about self-injury. Despite this positive outcome, more specific searches such as 'pro-self-injury' would likely result in less encouraging results. Mental health professionals should be aware that their self-injuring clients have probably used the internet for support and information, and consider how this use might impact on therapy. Mental health professionals could use the results of this study to recommend quality internet sites to their clients.
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 2007
This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative inquiry into the interactions on a nonprofessional self-harm message board. Individuals using the message board were very positive about the message board and appeared to feel that their needs for support, venting, and validation were being met. However, we found that negative harmful behaviors mentioned in messages posted on the board were either not acknowledged, or were legitimized and normalized by those who responded to the messages. We suggest that this process of minimizing the seriousness and/or normalizing the behaviors may actually be encouraging the maintenance of such behaviors and therefore conclude that caution should be exercised when using nonprofessional self-harm message boards.