MONTREAL, Jan. 31, 2025
Self-harmers resort to extreme measures to manage emotional pain by deliberately causing injury to themselves. However, beneath the physical scars lives a frightened, discouraged, and often traumatized soul.
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MONTREAL, Jan. 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- When dealing with unpleasant emotions, some people talk things out, some channel their feelings into a creative endeavor, and some focus their energy on altruistic actions. Self-harmers, on the other hand, resort to much more extreme measures to manage emotional pain. According to a study by PsychTests.com, people who engage in self-injury struggle with more than just stress and unhappiness.
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Analyzing the data collected from 1,456 people from the general population who took the Hardiness Test, PsychTests' researchers compared the attitudes, personalities, and behaviors of people who engage in self-harm and those who don't. Here's what their study revealed:
Aside from physically injuring themselves, self-harmers also beat themselves up emotionally.
Self-harmers tend to have a victim mentality.
Self-harmers don't believe that they have what it takes to overcome challenges and hardships.
Self-harmers were also more likely to be victims of trauma or to have witnessed something traumatic, the most common being verbal abuse (52%), bullying (47%), sexual abuse or assault (35%), physical abuse or assault (32%), and harassment (31%). PsychTests' study also uncovered several mental health issues that self-harmers struggled with.
"Both physical and emotional wounds can hurt, but the emotional ones tend to scar much more deeply," says Dr. Jerabek, president of PsychTests. "Overwhelmingly unpleasant emotions, especially those associated with trauma, need an outlet. For some people, deliberately injuring themselves is an effective, albeit temporary and harmful, solution. The emotional aches are numbed or eclipsed by physical pain."
Self-harming injuries can include cutting or piercing the skin on the arms or legs with a sharp object, burning oneself, or punching or banging one's head on a hard surface, such as a wall.
"For a self-harmer, learning healthier and more effective strategies to manage stress and negative feelings is essential," adds Dr. Jerabek. It's also important to get to the root of self-harming tendencies, be it trauma, a recent tragedy, or other issues that the person is struggling to overcome … and deal with them. The good news is, 76% of the self-harmers in our sample have either seen a therapist in the last two years or are interested in starting therapy. Moreover, 64% indicated that they have hobbies, interests, or activities they enjoy, which is a good distraction and an effective method for expelling pent-up feelings. Most importantly, 52% of the self-harmers strongly believe that they deserve love, respect, and happiness, and this is a good sentiment with which to start on the path to healing."How mentally tough are you? Find out with this test: https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/4189
Professional users, such as HR managers, coaches, and therapists, can request a free demo for this or other assessments from ARCH Profile's extensive battery: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/testdrive_gen_1
To learn more about psychological testing, download this free eBook: http://hrtests.archprofile.com/personality-tests-in-hr
About PsychTests AIM Inc.PsychTests AIM Inc. originally appeared on the internet scene in 1996. Since its inception, it has become a pre-eminent provider of psychological assessment products and services to human resource personnel, therapists and coaches, academics, researchers and a host of other professionals around the world. PsychTests AIM Inc. staff is comprised of a dedicated team of psychologists, test developers, researchers, statisticians, writers, and artificial intelligence experts (see ARCHProfile.com).
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SOURCE PsychTests.com
