Varieties of self-disgust in self-harm and suicide.

Self-harm can be defined as self-administered, non-accidental injury to one’s own body without suicidal intent. It is reported within both clinical and nonclinical populations (Gratz, Conrad, & Roemer, 2002), and is increasing among adolescents and young adults (Fortune & Hawton, 2005). The extant literature explores a number of reasons why individuals engage in self-harm, suggesting that it acts as a method of releasing, expressing, or regulating distress, it blocks memories/flashbacks, and/or it helps the individual manage distressing dissociative experiences (e.g., Briere & Gil, 1998; Gratz, 2003; Linehan, 1993). Self-harm appears to both down-regulate and control overwhelming feelings, and to up-regulate them, allowing the individual to ‘feel something’ after a period of ‘feeling numb’ (Horne & Csipke, 2009). Symbolic meanings of self-harm have also been posited, such as communicating or recording inner pain (Crowe & Bunclark, 2000; McLane, 1996; Milia, 2000; Miller, 1997).