Beyond medicalization

Self-injuring acts revisited

Bibliographic Data

ID4218327
AuthorsInger Ekman (0000-0002-5559-5203, Umeå University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume20
Issue4
Pages346-362
Publication date2016-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4593 • E-ISSN: 1461-7196
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1363459316633280
PMID26944632
OpenAlexW2296449181
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited95

For too long, medical/psychiatric and psychological studies, with focus on emotional sensitivity, personality traits, and correlation with psychopathology, have dominated research on self-injuring acts. The phenomenon thus has been defined as a predominantly medical issue. However, a large body of community prevalence studies show self-injuring acts to be a common phenomenon in society, and most of those who self-injure are unknown in psychiatric or other clinical settings. This article describes and analyzes the medicalization of self-injuring acts and argues a need to move research on self-injuring acts out of the medical paradigm. There is a need to explicitly explore the impact of social, cultural, structural, and gendered factors surrounding and influencing self-injuring acts. A non-medical approach, beyond the limits of the medical perspective, would feed research forward and create a more nuanced view on this widespread social phenomenon

Epistemology · Medicalization · Personality · Phenomenon · Psychiatry · Psychopathology · Social phenomenon · Social science · Sociology · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Medicine · Psychology · Restraint-Related Deaths · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies

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