Thesis (Ph.D.) in Psychology--University of Maine, 2009. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-151).

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2006. / Thesis advisors: Connie Tait, James Malley. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in School Counseling." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-73). Also available via the World Wide Web.

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The aim of this study was to describe the female elf-mutilator's lived experience of cutting herself. A question which would elicit a description of the experience of this phenomenon was formulated. Five self-mutilators were interviewed. The four psychologically richest narratives were chosen for this study. Using the empirical phenomenological method. the four protocols were analysed in detail. Self-mutilation is conceptualized as a cycle wherein the mutilator experiences a diffuse bodily felt-sense that mounts to an unbearable point. She has an irresistible urge to alleviate the distress. She isolates herself and cuts herself with a sharp blade. Upon seeing the blood appear she is overcome with a deep sense of satisfaction. power, and ecstatic pleasure. The blood is perceived to carry the distressing contents out of the body. Concomitantly the self-mutilator recollects a sense of her feelings and her body as belonging to her. Her previously alienated body is felt to be a site of vitality. She also feels removed from further harm. encased in a cocoon of safety that renders her invulnerable to others. However. the cutting can never totally rid the body of distressing feelings. As a result the cycle of cutting wiII be re-enacted. The cutting cycle is conceptualized as a process whereby the self-mutilator suffers from a traumatization of the psyche such that the psychic container is fractured and rendered painfully porous. The act of cutting rids the psyche of unwanted contents such that a sense of going-on-being is restored. The cutting acts to temporarily shore up the rent fabric of the psychic envelope and thereby consolidate a sense of personal boundary. This is a temporary respite from the fracturing of the psychic container in that, once again confronted with interpersonal existence, the self-mutilator begins to feel vulnerable and defenceless. When it seems as if disintegration is again imminent, a cycle of cutting is reconstituted. The findings emergent from the interviews were dialogued with the literature on psychic containers, particularly that which addresses the role of the skin in the formation and functioning of psychic containers.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-125).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-125) Also available in print.

This study centered on adolescent self-mutilation as well as possible forms of support and prevention. The information was gathered by assessing the needs of the adolescent girls who self-mutilate by means of semi-structured interviews. In these interviews the adolescent girls expressed their experiences of self-mutilation and their emotional needs. The aim of the study was to explore and describe the needs of adolescent girls who self-mutilate in order to develop guidelines of support so that parents may feel less helpless and overwhelmed. The findings of the study indicated that there are various reasons why an adolescent would engage in selfmutilation, that it serves a function in the adolescents’ lives and surfaces at times of emotional crisis. This study found further that a lack of problem-solving skills, coping abilities and social skills could play a role in whether an adolescent chooses to self-mutilate. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play therapy)

According to the policy on Inclusive Education, teachers are increasingly expected to play a community and pastoral role in order to, in this way, be able to measure up to the needs of learners who are experiencing barriers to learning (such as, for example, self-mutilation). This study was undertaken to determine what knowledge and skills teachers have at their disposal to identify self-mutilators in inclusive classrooms and to provide basic aid to these learners. By means of a literature study, self-mutilation was elucidated, and attention was paid to an explanation of what exactly self-mutilation involved, the forms of self-mutilation, the causes of self-mutilation, self-mutilation and related conditions, and the characteristics of the self-mutilator. Linked to this, the focus was on the extent to which the teacher is capable of identifying self-mutilators in inclusive classrooms and providing basic aid to them. Focus was also placed on the community and pastoral role of the teacher, the teacher’s experience of inclusive education, and the National Strategy with regard to the Screening, Identification, Assessment, and Support of learners who experience barriers to learning. A full description of various therapeutic approaches and aid programmes that can be undertaken with self-mutilators concluded the literature review. This literature review indicated a gap regarding the availability of training programmes for South-African teachers without training or background knowledge of Psychology, to assist them in identifying self-mutilators and providing basic aid to self-mutilators. Quantitative descriptive research was used to gather data from teachers by means of a questionnaire with open and closed items. In this particular study, 319 teachers were purposively and randomly chosen from 16 secondary schools (eight Ex Model C schools and eight Township schools) from Districts D2 and D12 in the Krugersdorp/Roodepoort area of the Gauteng Department of Education. On the one hand, the questionnaire determined teachers‟ knowledge and skills with regard to the nature of, reasons for and characteristics of self-mutilation in inclusive classrooms, and whether they possessed skills to provide basic aid to self-mutilators. On the other hand, it was also determined by means of open questions how the teachers become aware of self-mutilators, the type of training they received to provide basic aid to self-mutilators, what they viewed being the influence of self-mutilation on teaching and learning and on emotional and social development, their views of the pastoral role of the teacher as well as what their attitude/view was with regard to the possible implementation of a training programme to identify self-mutilators in inclusive classrooms and to provide basic aid to them. Furthermore, the open questions explored the availability of support structures to teachers to assist them in identifying self-mutilators and providing basic aid to these learners, as well as the opportunities that teachers create for learners to talk about their problems. Results indicated that the teachers who took part in the study did not have adequate knowledge and skills at their disposal regarding the identification of, and provision of basic aid to self-mutilators. They were however in favour of the implementation of a training programme that would enable them to identify self-mutilators and provide basic aid to them. On the basis of the data obtained through the questionnaire, and in accordance with the literature, a training programme was developed. In the absence of training programmes for the support of teachers in the identification of, and aid to self-mutilators in South African schools, this study makes a distinct contribution. / PhD, Educational Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Purpose: Therapists are often charged with the seemingly impossible task of predicting their client’s future behavior, particularly behavior that may result in harm or death. Adverse events (AE) refer to a constellation of behaviors or events that interfere with treatment and exhibit a risk to the safety of the patient, which include suicide attempts, non-suicidal self injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation. This is the first study that seeks to identify and associate in-session markers in DBT prior to AEs. Method: The proposed study sought to identify whether ruptures in therapeutic alliance (3RS; Eubanks-Carter, Muran & Safran, 2015), the frequency and intensity of negative-self referential speech (LIWC2015; Pennebaker, Booth, Boyd & Francis, 2015) and periods of psychomotor agitation are associated with AEs within a course of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). By coding videotaped psychotherapy sessions (n = 98) across 21 patients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), the researchers prospectively examined the association between in-session phenomena during the session prior to an AE. Exploratory logistic multilevel modeling, mean comparison and latent profile analysis (LPA) techniques were used to identified in-session markers associated with adverse events across the course of DBT treatment. Results: Using a multilevel model building approach to account for the nested structure, increases in content/affect split was associated with increased likelihood (36% increase in log-odds) of NSSI occurrence reported in the subsequent session when controlling for frequency of past NSSI episodes. When controlling for prior suicide attempts, withdrawal and confrontation ruptures did not predict the occurrence of suicide attempts in the subsequent session. To further examine the heterogeneity of the Level 1 variables (i.e., in-session markers), the LPA fitted afive-profile solution that captured relative differences in mean frequencies of coded markers.The latent “session types” were named based on their in-session characteristics, with AEs identified post-hoc within the identified profiles. While AEs were distributed across multiple profiles, visual inspection aligned with the findings in the multilevel model. Sessions characterized by elevations in content/affect split and behaviors that distance from the therapist preceded NSSI during treatment. The majority of the sessions prior to suicide attempts (70%) during the study period were assigned to the profile with the lowest mean frequency of in-session markers. Clinical implications: The strength of the therapeutic alliance in DBT is an essential component of effective treatment. Therapeutic ruptures, particularly withdrawal ruptures, occur frequently in DBT treatment. Attending to these ruptures, especially occasions when a patient’s affect and verbal content are not congruent, may signal to the therapist that the patient requires additional support. In-session content/affect split may represent a vulnerability factor that puts the patient at increased risk of NSSI behavior due difficulty attuning to their internal experiences and limitations in their emotional flexibility. Limitations: Similar to other studies that examine self-harm, the low base-rate of suicide attempts and NSSI behavior complicates empirical study. Since the study utilized strict inclusion criteria for only individuals diagnosed with BPD, findings cannot be generalized to patients with other psychiatric diagnoses. While some therapist effects are controlled for in the study since one therapist treated all the patient included in the study, the study does not account for therapist factors that may influence the therapy dyad. Given the limited sample size, there was not adequate power to fit more complicated models (e.g., inter-level and intra-level interactions, random effect predictor variables, etc.).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.