This book addresses different contexts of communication pertaining to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). An international group of clinicians and communication specialists describe, analyze, and explain how NSSI is communicated about, what NSSI is communicating, and how can we do a better job in communicating with others about NSSI.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate harming of one's body without suicidal intent. NSSI tends to be secretive, often involving cutting, bruising, or burning on hidden parts of the body. While NSSI often occurs among adolescents, it is not limited to that age group. Communication and NSSI intersect in many ways, including conversation among family members, consultation with healthcare providers, representation in the media, discourse among people who self-injure, and even communication with oneself. Each chapter in Communicating With, About, and Through Self-Harm: Scarred Discourse addresses a different context of communication crucial to our understanding NSSI. An international group of clinicians and communication specialists describe, analyze, and explain how NSSI is communicated about, what NSSI is communicating, and how can we do a better job in communicating with others about NSSI. This book’s fundamental purpose is to empower individuals who self-injure as well as their families, friends, healthcare providers, and communities to better understand and deal with NSSI and the pressures that cause it.

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter 1: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Communicating in Chaos

Marta Carvalhal, LISW-CP and Nicole S. Parrish, M.D.

Chapter 2: Self-Regulatory Communication in the Treatment of Self-Injury: Development and

Maintenance of Therapeutic Rapport

John L. Levitt, PhD, FAED, FIAEDP, CEDS-S

Chapter 3: Novel Online Daily Diary Interventions for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Jill M. Hooley, Kathryn R. Fox, Shirley B. Wang, and Anita N. D. Kwashie

Chapter 4: Sibling Relationships of Female Adolescents with Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder in Comparison to a Clinical and a Nonclinical Control Group

Taru Tschan, Janine Lüdtke, Marc Schmid, and Tina In-Albon

Chapter 5: Using Micro-Longitudinal Methods to Examine Social-Communicative Functions of Self-injury in Everyday Life

Brianna J. Turner and Carolyn E. Helps

Chapter 6: Discursive Tensions and Contradictions: A Cultural Analysis of an Online Self-Harm Forum

Mike Alvarez

Chapter 7: “Can Airport Scanners See Scars?” An Interpretive Analysis of Self-Injury Narratives

Warren Bareiss

Chapter 8: Fighting the Self: Inter- and Intra-Personal Communicative Violence in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club

Lisann Anders

Chapter 9: A Systematic Review of Media Use and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behaviors

Shuang Liu, Ph.D. and Yanni Ma, Ph.D.

Chapter 10:

The End (a.k.a The Beginning): Application of Buddhist Principles in Communicating With, About, and Through Self-Harm

Warren Bareiss

About the Contributors