Self-harm

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSI) is defined as the direct and deliberate destruction of one's own body tissue without lethal intent. After decades of a progressive increase in the incidence of NSI among adolescents and young adults, and growing scientific interest in this topic, the disorder has been included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a problem requiring clinical attention when it meets established severity criteria.

Even so, these behaviors do not always occur in the context of a mental disorder, and they do not always require clinical attention , as they are increasingly observed in the general population and, in many cases, intervention is possible from a non-specialized mental health setting. In fact, in recent decades, there has been an increase in self-harm among boys and girls without any mental health diagnosis, as a way of expressing their distress .

Next, we will review the differences between sporadic self-harm and self-harm disorder; the warning signs; the triggering, maintaining, and protective factors; and the strategies to follow when they occur: when and who we can ask for help.