The purpose is to illustrate the phenomenon of self-harm from a social psychological and sociological perspective. The purpose is furthermore to examine the role social relationships play in the individuals´ self- imagine and what role does identification play for anyone who harm themselves? We want to examine in what way social relationships are important and how they function for individuals who harm themselves, both once they have started to harm themselves, and if the relationships in any part caused the cutting to begin with. Questions: How do individuals shape their identity based on self- harm? Which self-image do individuals have who self-harm? Is there anything in the person's previous social relationships that have caused them to begin to hurt themselves? Method: In this paper we have analyzed five autobiographies. We have used open coding from grounded theory as analytical method and subject positions based on discourse analysis. Theory: We have used the Cooley concepts looking glass self, Foucault's theory of power, Giddens' concept of ontological security and existential anxiety. Results and Analysis: We found six different categories that we thought were central. These were negative self-image, guilt, lack of family support, negative experiences of others' views, the protective identity as self- harmer and insecure social relationships in school. Conclusion: The self-harming is a very complex behavior. In this paper we have found that social relationship has a major influence on if a person begins to develop self-harm. The negative social impact on social relations in childhood plays a particularly important role and affects the individual's identity and self-image. Identity was both linked to the development of a negative self-image and difficulty to stop harm themselves when upset, it was the thing they identified with and which gave them security.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:oru-22082 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Melberg, Camilla, Andersson, Frida |
| Publisher | Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för humaniora, utbildnings- och samhällsvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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