Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent, pervasive, clinically significant behavior in adolescents, frequently associated with serious social, physical, and psychological consequences. It is characterized by high comorbidity with various disorders. Therefore, NSSI has been included as a research diagnosis in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., American Psychiatric Association (APA; 2013) ; DSM-5; Section 3), as a condition requiring further study for possible future official adoption. This is a positive step toward providing researchers with a uniform definition and criteria. This state-of-the-art article gives an overview of prevalence rates, comorbidity, clinical correlates, functions, and risk factors as well as treatment and dealing with adolescents with NSSI and their Internet activities. Furthermore, the association and differences between NSSI and suicidality as well as borderline personality disorder are reviewed. The article concludes with future directions for research, for example, the dimensional approach to classification of the Research Domain Criteria project.