Recovery from self-harm.A qualitative study.
Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The overall aim of this dissertation was to expand understanding of the recovery from direct self-harm for adult persons who self-harm through three partial studies. Study I included a theoretical evolutionary concept analysis to clarify the content of the concept self-harm as delineated to the disciplines of medicine and nursing. Studies II and III were interview studies. In study II, mental health nurses’ experiences of caring for adult inpatients who self-harm during an acute phase were explored using manifest and latent content analyses. In study III, the aim was to explore, describe and understand former patients’ experiences of recovery from self-harm, and a phenomenological hermeneutical approach was used in the analysis of data.\n A compilation of the findings from the three partial studies resulted in the following. Persons who self-harm have their own personal self-harm “rhythm”, with different intervals and degree of severity. Persons who self-harm can use several different self- harm methods simultaneously. Before an acknowledged turning point persons who self- harm live with a self-destructive self-harm pattern, where a recovery process is not a personal goal. For some, there may be an absence of a verbal language with which to express their suffering and this can contribute to a prolonged recovery process. Mental health nurses have different approaches to whether patients should be allowed to self- harm or not while in care; some allowed patients to self-harm while others stopped patients’ self-harm behavior through various forms of coercive methods. All serious self-harm was stopped.\n After persons who self-harm acknowledged a turning point and chose life and/or contact with close relatives, they became motivated to receive professional help and start the individual learning processes toward recovery from self-harm. A personal recovery process was begun where they learned to recognize personal stress, what it was that triggered their self-harm, how to distract themselves, and how to master their own basic needs such as sleeping sufficiently, eating nutritious food and/or engaging in physical activity.\n The mental health nurses motivated each patient to engage in a dialogue about the patient’s situation, including which signals are experienced prior to a self-harm act. The nurses encouraged patients to learn how to distract themselves from self-harm situations through individual activities. The nurses sought to promote hope for recovery by strengthening patients’ self-image.\n The implication for mental health nurses is that they should chart the scope of a person’s self-harm over time, to see when an increase in the self-harm behavior is needed to sustain the experienced reduction in tension, including increased risk for suicide. At the same time, nurses should also understand that persons who self-harm may be struggling to maintain dignity and control of their self-harm behavior. One central implication for each nurse is the question of how he/she can guide the patient to recovery, both prior to and after the patient’s acknowledged turning point. Prior to a turning point, recovery is not a personal goal for the person who self-harms. After the turning point, the person is motivated to receive professional help as a start to the personal recovery process.
Author: Randi Tofthagen
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2806828757