ABSTRACT
The chapter applies a sociopsychological angle to NSSI. The forms of self-injury varies over time, and both the manifestations of NSSI and our understanding of them are shaped by historical and cultural factors. Examples include flagellation, bloodletting, sticking needles into the body and cutting. Most forms of self-injury are directed at the skin, which has a special role as the ‘membrane’ that separates our inner world from the outer world. Through deliberate ornamentation and by automatic, nonvolitional responses the skin expresses how we feel, and most people living in late modern society are aware of the signals they send through their appearance. Demands for perfection, self-fashioning and identity formation based on one’s reflection in the social mirror present new conditions for young people, who increasingly struggle with stress and low self-esteem, which may be contributing factors for the spread of self-injury. Young people today have no refuge but are constantly exposed through social media. FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out – and the demand for a perfect appearance in the virtual worlds help explain the prevalence of NSSI as a coping mechanism in late modern society.
