The Internet and Self-Injury: What Psychotherapists Should Know

Abstract

The Internet affords information gathering and sharing previously impossible. For individuals who practice self-injury, this capacity allows rapid identification of others with shared history, experience, and practices. For many of those who self-injure, the ability to find others like themselves reduces the isolation and loneliness which so often characterizes the behavior.

For others, however, active participation in on-line communities may effectively substitute for the real work required to develop positive coping and healthy relationships. Our experience suggests that regular assessment of self-injury Internet use is uncommon in therapeutic settings. Proliferation of self-injury message boards, informational websites, blogs, and YouTube posts is a clinical challenge. In this article, we review the research on self-injury and Internet use and then make a series of recommendations for clinicians.

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