Intentional self injury is associated with expericing

- Intentional self-injury is associated with expericing eating disorders and the vulnerability
to eating disorders.
o This is high among those high in impulsivity
- In one study about 17% of youth between 14 and 21 engaged in non-suicidal self-injury
o Mean age of onset was 15 years old
o The main forms were cutting, scratching and self-hitting
o More self-injury was linked to depression and difficulties regulating attention and
impulsivity.
o Self-harm among young women was related to body shame and a history of
parental criticism.
- There are four reasons why self-harm may occur, they include:
o Interpersonal reasons
o To suppress an unwanted social stimulus ( social negative reinforcement )
o To suppress negative emotions (automatic negative reinforcement )
o To generate feelings ( automatic positive reinforcement )
- One factor that could account for self-injury is the internet self-injury message boards.
o This was referred to as the virtual cutting edge.
o Online social interaction provides support for those with a history of self-harm,
but they also normalize and encourage further acts of self-injury.
- The strongest predictors of self-injury were prior history of self-harm, higher
hopelessness and personality disorders with dramatic and erratic symptoms.
Bulimia Nervosa
- Bulimia means ox hunger and nervosa means for an emotional reason.
- This disorder involves rapid consumption of a large amount of food followed by
compensatory mechanisms, such as vomiting, fasting or excessive exercise to prevent
weight gain.
- DSM-5 defines a binge as eating an excessive amount of food with a defined period of
time (2 hours)
→ This binge must also include a sense of lack of control over the behavior.
→ Binge-eating and compensatory behavior must occur atleast once a week for a
period of three months.
- Bulimia nervosa is not diagnosed if the bingeing and purging only occur in the context of
anorexia nervosa. The diagnosis in this case would be anorexia nervosa, binge-eating-
purging type.
- Represents a discrete category that differs qualitatively from normality.

- Binges occur in secret and may be triggered by stress and the negative emotions it brings.
- Stressors that involve negative social interactions are potent elicits for bingeing
o Bulimics have high levels of interpersonal sensitivity, as reflected by self-
criticism following social interactions.
- DSM-5 criteria requires that the self-evaluation by influenced by body shape or body
weight.
- Binge episodes followed by lower self-concept, mood state and social perception.
- The person engaged in bingeing often feels a lack of control over the amount of food
being consumed.
- Binges are not always as large as the DSM implies and there is a lot of variation in the
calorie intact consumed by individuals with bulimia nervosa during binges.