The Self-perpetuating Cycle of Shame and Self-injury

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11230707
AutoresNina Veetnisha Gunnarsson (0000-0001-8948-1055, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume45
Fascículo3
Páginas313-333
Data de publicação2021-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHumanity & Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0160-5976 • E-ISSN: 2372-9708
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0160597620904475
OpenAlexW3008547325
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas42

Although previous studies have considered shame to be a significant emotion in making sense of self-injury, the connection is still not fully understood. Drawing on sociological ideas on shame, this communication contributes to a theoretical understanding of actions of self-injury by demonstrating how shame operates and unfolds in social interaction. It argues for how shame and self-injury may reproduce and amplify each other, hence turning into a self-perpetuating cycle of shame and self-injury. It shows how shame is triggered in social interaction, how shame leads to self-injury, and how self-injury may turn into more shame. Self-injury is used to fend off shame by upholding social and cultural commitments and maintaining social bonds with others. However, self-injury may also threaten social order and social bonds and, consequently, trigger more shame. The most important reason that self-injury does not fully work as emotion work, and internalized social control, lies in the interactive cycle of shame, that is, you feel shame and cut, you cut again and are (a)shamed, you are shamed and cut, and so on. It is proposed that people who self-injure do not necessarily lack the ability to self-soothe or regulate emotions or that they suffer from a clinical psychopathology

Self · Shame · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Psychology · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies