Sitting on my counter for the past while has been a beautiful, locally, lovingly, organically grown baking pumpkin. This weekend, it was time to use it, and I opted to make gluten-free pumpkin muffins. One of the first steps, after washing it, was to cut the pumpkin open. Trials with five separate knives later, mission was accomplished.
About one-quarter to one-third of the way through trying to cut the pumpkin open–and likely while I wrestled to pull a stuck knife out of the vegetable–I began to fantasize Read more ›
Let me begin with the introduction of some terms: spool (not the kind for thread), water box, elevation, drop, a “y”, underground services, mains, laterals, hydraulic…. Earlier this month, I faced an emergency of sorts when the sewer drain outside my home became completely clogged and damaged by tree roots.
This was an unexpected and vastly consuming situation, a problem I was unaware of but had clearly been developing for a long time until it reached some tipping point and then, voila! Read more ›
Akyuz, G., Sar, V., Kugu, N., & Dogan, O. (2005). Reported childhood trauma, attempted suicide and self-mutilative behavior among
women in the general population. European Psychiatry, 20(3), 268-273
American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision ed.). Washington, DC:American Psychiatric Association. Read more ›
Given the way the DSM-IV-TR is structured, where disorders are grouped based on similar symptoms, there is no other obvious place to locate self-injury as an Axis I disorder. Nevertheless, when thinking about how best to classify self-injury, I believe it is important to enter the larger discussion of whether the current classification of disorders needs to be adjusted to reflect higher order factors involved. Read more ›
If self-injury were to become a mental disorder in a future edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM], where should it be included? Advocates for a repetitive self-injury syndrome have suggested it be listed in the class of disorders that are referred to in the DSM-IV-TR as “Impulse-Control Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified”. Read more ›
To date, there is no specific diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR [DSM-IV-TR] that addresses a pattern of repetitive self-injury as a separate syndrome although some have suggested it be included (e.g., Favazza & Rosenthal, 1993; Muehlenkamp, 2005; Pattison & Kahan, 1983). Self-injury is listed as a symptom of a mental disorder in some instances Read more ›
There are several specific functions self-injury has been reported to serve with an affect regulation function of self-injury receiving the strongest support; that is, where self-injury functions to alleviate acute negative affect or affective arousal (Klonsky, 2007). Strong support has also been found for a self-punishment function of self-injury, where self-injury functions to express anger or derogation towards oneself. Other functions received modest support. Read more ›
Non-suicidal self-injury (hereafter referred to as self-injury) is the intentional hurting of one’s body by oneself, done in a physical way without conscious suicidal intent but for the general purpose of relief. Acts of self-injury fall outside the realm of what is currently viewed as socially acceptable behaviour (Whitlock, Eckenrode & Silverman, 2006). The purpose of this article is to twofold. First, it is to provide readers with a brief overview of this clinically relevant behaviour. Second, it is to explore diagnostic issues as they relate to self-injury including a consideration of the potential usefulness of utilizing both symptoms of self-injury, as well as underlying processes involved for diagnostic conceptualizations. Read more ›
Non-suicidal self-injury is the intentional hurting of one’s body by oneself, done in a physical way without conscious suicidal intent but for the general purpose of relief. The present article provides a brief overview of self-injury and considers whether or not self-injury should be designated as a separate mental disorder, as well as how it might best be classified. Read more ›
It is the dog-days of summer. My creative energies have focused more on photography and collage work instead of writing. To give the IC Blog some attention while savouring the remaining days of summer (and working), I have decided to dust off a paper I wrote in the fall of 2009 and present it here in a series of posts. Read more ›
