ABSTRACT
It is important to distinguish the population of teens who harm themselves and come from a context of trauma from a different cohort of adolescents who superficially engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). e dynamics associated with NSSI can be quite different from the underlying motives connected to abuse survivors who chronically hurt themselves. Adolescents who have “tried” NSSI may engage in the behavior for other reasons. ey may be experimenting to fit in with other peers. When an increase in cutting occurs within a school or a residential treatment setting, some of the literature associates this with a “contagion factor” (Walsh, 2008). However, the research is mixed regarding the extent to which this, alone, is a way to explain an increase in the experimentation.
