Lived Experience Views on What Contributes to Self-Injury Stigma: A Thematic Analysis

Growing research has sought to understand non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) stigma. To build on this literature, we qualitatively explored what young adults with lived experience of NSSI believed contributed to its stigmatization. Participants (n = 97) were asked open-ended online questions about what they perceived as contributing to NSSI stigma, which were then analysed via reflexive thematic analysis. Resultant themes indicated that participants believe stigma stems from people, who do not self-injure, misunderstanding self-injury as attention-seeking or conflate it with suicide; they also believe that the media may play a role in this regard (e.g., glamourization, inaccurate portrayals of recovery). Findings offer initial support for a recent theoretical framework for NSSI stigma and point to several implications, which are discussed.