Meta-Analysis Finds Childhood Abuse, Neglect Associated With Self-Injurious Behavior

Understanding patients ’ history of childhood abuse or neglect may help determine their risk of non-suicidal self-injury, according to ameta-analysis published in the January issue ofLancet Psychiatry.Non-suicidal self-injury —defined as direct and deliberate destruction of one’s own bodily tissue without suicidal intent—is estimated to affect more than 5% of adults, 17% of adolescents, and 30% of adolescents with a mental disorder. Moreover, non-suicidal self-injury is known to be one of the strongest predictors f or future suicide attempts, Richard T. Liu, Ph.D., of Brown University and colleagues wrote. While most patients who engage in repeated self-injurious behavior stop within a few years, about one-fifth of patients develop a chronic pattern of self-injury.The meta-analysis by Liu and colleagues included 71 studies that evaluated the association between childhood maltreatment (including sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect) and non-suicidal self-injury. The researchers found that overall childhood maltreatment was positively associated with non-suicidal self-injury (odds ratio [OR] = 3.42). The association was strongest for emotional abuse (OR = 3.03) and weakest for emotional neglect (OR = 1.84), although the analysis for emotional neglect included the fewest studies.The association of maltreatment with non-suicidal self-injury was found to be stronger in community samples than in clinical samples, suggesting ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: child abuse child neglect Lancet Psychiatry Lianne Schmaal nonsuicidal self-injury Richard Liu Sarah Bendall Source Type: research