Self-Harm
While not a mental health condition on its own, self-harm is a sign of deep emotional pain and underlying mental health challenges.
Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) — also referred to as self-harm or self-injury — is the deliberate act of hurting oneself without the intent to die, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
Essentially, it’s the use of physical pain — most commonly in the form of cutting, burning, or hitting oneself — to temporarily reduce emotional distress or cope with feelings of numbness or emptiness.
Clearview Treatment Programs in Los Angeles provides evidence-based, compassionate care that helps individuals develop safer and more effective ways to regulate their emotions and cope with stress. Our treatment approach addresses both self-harm behaviors and the root causes of those behaviors, including underlying mental health disorders, trauma, and emotional distress. This approach allows clients to heal on a whole-person level, regaining stability and independence.
About Clearview
Ages Treated
Adults of all genders (18+)
Payments Accepted
Commercial insurance (in-network and out-of-network), self pay
Medicare/Medicaid
Not accepted
Key Info
Self-Harm
Definition
At its core, self-harm (non-suicidal self-injury or NSSI) is an unhealthy coping mechanism for painful or difficult emotions. While any area of the body can be a target, the most frequent sites for self-harm are the arms, legs, chest, and stomach.
The urge to self-harm is often triggered by overwhelming emotional experiences like stressful family situations, reminders of past trauma, or feelings of rejection, self-hatred, or isolation. For people with untreated mental health disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, or borderline personality disorder, self-harm can develop as a response to intense and distressing mental health symptoms.
For many individuals, self-harm provides temporary relief from distress or gives them a way to break through feelings of numbness or nothingness. Unfortunately, that sense of relief doesn’t last. In most cases, self-harm increases shame and isolation over time, creating new issues that negatively impact overall mental health.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), NSSI is listed as a condition for further study, meaning it is recognized as a clinically significant behavior that deserves careful attention and research, even though it is not yet an official diagnosis.
Common behaviors include:
- Cutting, burning, scratching, or picking at the skin
- Interfering with wound healing
- Banging one's head or body against objects
- Hitting or punching parts of the body
Less common behaviors include:
- Ingesting non-lethal amounts of toxic substances
- Trichotillomania (pulling out hair)
- Self-embedding (inserting objects under the skin)
Signs + symptoms
Common signs and symptoms of self-harm include:
- Frequent, unexplained injuries such as cuts, burns, scratches, or bruises.
- Wearing long sleeves or pants in hot weather to conceal marks or scars.
- Keeping sharp objects or other tools that could be used to cause injury.
- Repeated behaviors like cutting, burning, or hitting oneself, done without suicidal intent.
- Preoccupation with self-injury, including strong urges or repetitive thoughts about harming oneself.
- Feelings of relief after self-harm, often followed by guilt, shame, or secrecy.
- Withdrawing from friends and family or avoiding social activities.
- Sudden mood changes, increased irritability, or difficulty managing emotions.
- Evidence of wound interference, such as reopening injuries to delay healing.
- Underlying mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, trauma, or borderline personality disorder.
Risk factors
There is no single reason an individual chooses self-harm as an outlet for emotional distress. Still, factors like past trauma, abuse, social isolation, an unstable family environment, questioning sexual identity, and co-occurring mental health conditions can all contribute.
Common risk factors include:
- Emotion regulation difficulties; interpersonal stress
- Trauma history or adverse childhood experiences
- Co-occurring psychiatric conditions (mood, anxiety, borderline traits)
- Social contagion/peer exposure (particularly in adolescence and young adulthood)
Self-harm + co-occurring addiction
Individuals who self-harm are at greater risk of developing a substance use disorder because both behaviors often serve a similar purpose — managing overwhelming emotions, trauma, or inner distress (Jacobson & Gould, 2007).
Research shows that self-harm and substance misuse can each provide temporary relief from pain, numbness, or intrusive thoughts, but over time they create harmful cycles that worsen overall mental health (Moran et al., 2012).
Biologically, both behaviors activate the brain’s reward and stress systems, reinforcing them even when they cause harm. Psychiatrically, individuals living with conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or borderline personality disorder are more vulnerable to using multiple maladaptive coping strategies, including both self-harm and substance use (Ross & Heath, 2002). Social influences — like isolation, stigma, or limited support — can further entrench these patterns and make recovery more difficult.
Because of these overlaps, treatment that addresses self-harm and substance use together, using compassionate and evidence-based approaches, is often most effective in breaking these cycles and supporting long-term recovery (Glenn et al., 2019).
Sources:
- Glenn, C. R., Franklin, J. C., & Nock, M. K. (2019). Evidence-based psychosocial treatments for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in youth. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 48(S1), S40–S69.
- Jacobson, C. M., & Gould, M. (2007). The epidemiology and phenomenology of non-suicidal self-injurious behavior among adolescents: A critical review of the literature. Archives of Suicide Research, 11(2), 129–147.
- Moran, P., Coffey, C., Romaniuk, H., Olsson, C., Borschmann, R., Carlin, J. B., & Patton, G. C. (2012). The natural history of self-harm from adolescence to young adulthood: A population-based cohort study. The Lancet, 379(9812), 236–243.
- Ross, S., & Heath, N. (2002). A study of the frequency of self-mutilation in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31(1), 67–77.
Treatment
Self-harm is best addressed with evidence-based mental health treatments that target both the behaviors themselves and the underlying emotional pain driving them.
Dialectical behavior therapy
Research consistently supports dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a skills-based therapy that helps individuals regulate emotions, tolerate distress, and build healthier coping strategies. Studies show DBT can significantly reduce self-injury behaviors, particularly among individuals with borderline personality disorder (Linehan et al., 2006).
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to help by identifying harmful thought patterns and teaching alternative coping methods, offering people new ways to respond when distress feels overwhelming (Slee et al., 2008).
Inegrated treatment for co-occurring conditions
Integrated care that treats co-occurring conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use can remove the root causes that trigger self-injury.
Mindfulness therapy
Mindfulness-based interventions and other mind-body therapies can help individuals with the disorder manage the stress and anxiety caused by their symptoms and develop a deeper awareness and understanding of how the disorder affects them.
Family therapy
Community is key to healing, with family therapy and support groups playing a critical role in the long-term management of self-injury. Family programs can help educate families on the symptoms and challenges of the disorder and provide them with tools and resources for supporting their loved one.
Likewise, social support groups offer a social outlet and community where individuals can share their experiences and hold one another accountable.
If you’re struggling with self-harm, you’re not alone. Contact us to learn more about our mental health treatment programs at 323.402.1622.
Treatment for Self-Harm at Clearview
For those experiencing self-harm, finding the right treatment approach is critical. Treatment can create a safe space to truly understand and address the pain beneath the behaviors. With the right professional care, individuals can build lifelong coping skills that bring real healing, stability, and hope.
Clearview Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides compassionate, holistic treatment for individuals struggling with self-harm and corresponding mental health disorders. We help clients identify triggers, build DBT skills (mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness), and practice alternatives to self-harm. Family involvement and peer support also reinforce change.
We offer residential and outpatient programs that address both self-harm behaviors and the root causes of those behaviors, including underlying psychiatric disorders, trauma, and emotional distress.
We also provide dual-diagnosis treatment for individuals experiencing self-harm and co-occurring substance use disorders. Our treatment programs combine evidence-based therapies, mind/body therapies, and family programming to give our clients the best chance at sustained healing and the ability to live fulfilling lives — both today and in the future.
How We Treat
All of our clinicians are extensively trained in incomprehensive dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and many are DBT-Linehan Board Certified. In addition to DBT, our clinicians are certified in various evidence-backed therapies, including:
Our Treatment Programs
Addiction with Co-occurring Mental Health
Women's Mental Health
Gender-Inclusive Mental Health
Clearview Treatment Programs
Outpatient Treatment
Our outpatient programs help clients with mental health disorders maintain a structured treatment routine while providing them with a higher level of independence in their lives. Clearview offers both partial hospitalization programs (PHP) and intensive outpatient programs (IOP) that can be tailored to each client’s unique symptoms, challenges, and needs.