Subjective Experience of Non Suicidal Self Injury in Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder

The aim of the study is to explore the subjective experience of non suicidal self injury (NSSI) in individuals with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD). The act of deliberately injuring onself is a puzzling behaviour to understand, but one which has received increased attention from researchers in recent years. There is research evidence that EUPD patients use NSSI to achieve quick relief from negative emotions and from strong aversive inner tension. While quantitative research studies have investigated the phenomenon of NSSI in clinical as well as non clinical sample, there is a dearth of studies which have looked into, in a holistic manner, the unique experiential account of individuals with EUPD who engage in NSSI. The experience in totality, in a clinical population, can give a realistic account of the inner world of the persons with EUPD and help to gain insight about the unique patterns of self-injury among these individuals and consequently allow for targeted interventions, thus increasing the applicability of the findings to the clinical setting.