Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The relationship between self-injurious behavior and self-disclosure in adolescents with eating disorders

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the current study is to examine the association between self disclosure and self-injurious behaviors among adolescent patients diagnosed with an eating disorder.

Methods

Sixty three female patients who fulfilled the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria of eating disorders were included (i.e. anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and eating disorders not otherwise specified). Participants’ age ranged from 11.5 to 20 years (M = 15.42, SD = 1.82). Participants completed self- report questionnaires about eating disorders, self-disclosure, self-injurious behaviors (FASM) and depression (BDI-II)

Results

82.5% of the sample endorsed severe self-injurious behaviors. A moderate negative relationship was found between general disclosure to parents and self-injurious behaviors indicating that patients who generally self-disclose to their parents (on different topics, apart from suicidal ideation) engage less frequently in self-injurious behaviors. In addition, the more patients self-disclose their suicidal ideation to others, the more they tend to self-injure.

Conclusion

Self-disclosure to parents on any topic may buffer against self-injurious behaviors and therefore it is important to work with adolescents suffering from eating disorders on effective self disclosure. In addition, self-disclosure about suicidal ideation to others by adolescents suffering from eating disorders should always be taken seriously, since it may be related to self-injurious behaviors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Claes L, Vanderycken W, Vertommen H (2001) Self-injurious behaviors in eating-disordered patients. Eat Behav 2:263–272

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Muehlenkamp J, Peat C, Claes L, Smits D (2012) Self-injury and disordered eating: expressing emotion dysregulation through the body. Suicide Life Threat 42(4):416–425. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.00100.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Solano R, Fernandez-Aranda Aitken A, Lopez C, Vallejo J (2005) Self-injurious behavior in people with eating disorders. Eur Eat Disord Rev 13:3–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wright F, Bewick B, Barkham M, House AO, Hill AJ (2009) Co-occurrence of self-reported disordered eating and self-harm in UK university students. Br J Clin Psychol 48(4):397–410. doi:10.1348/014466509X410343

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Favaro A, Ferrara S, Santonastaso P (2007) Self-injurious behavior in a community sample of young women: relationship with childhood abuse and other types of self-damaging behaviors. J Clin Psychiatry 68:122–131

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Favaro A, Santonastaso P, Monteleone P, Bellodi L, Mauri M, Rotondo A, Erzegovesi S, Maj M (2008) Self-injurious behavior and attempted suicide in purging bulimia nervosa: associations with psychiatric comorbidity. J Affect Disord 105(1–3):285–289. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2007.05.010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Muehlenkamp J, Claes L, Smits D, Peat CM, Vandereycken W (2011) Non-suicidal self-injury in eating disordered patients: a test of a conceptual model. Psychiatry Res 188(1):102–108. doi:10.1016/j.psychers.2010.12.023

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Favaro A, Santonastaso P (2000) Self-injurious behaviour in anorexia nervosa. J Nerv Ment Dis 188:537–542

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Svirko E, Hawton K (2007) Self-injurious behavior and eating disorders: the extent and nature of the association. Suicide Life-Threat 37(4):409–421. doi:10.1521/suli.2007.37.4.409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Ross S, Heath N, Toste J (2009) Non-suicidal self-injury and eating pathology in high school students. Am J Orthopsychiatry 79(1):83–92. doi:10.1037/a0014826

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Shingleton R, Eddy K, Keshaviah A, Franko D, Swanson S, Yu J, Krishna M, Nock MK, Herzog DB (2013) Binge/purge thoughts in non suicidal self-injurious adolescents: an ecological momentary analysis. Int J Eat Disord 46(7):684–689. doi:10.1002/eat.22142

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Peebles R, Wilson J, Lock J (2011) Self-injury in adolescents with eating disorders: correlates and provider bias. J Adolesc Health 48(3):310–313. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.06.017

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Jourard SM (1964) The transparent self. Van Nostrand, New York

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jourard SM (1997) Self-disclosure: an experimental analysis of the transparent self. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  15. Saxena P, Mehrotra S (2010) Emotional disclosure in day-to-day living and subjective well being. Psychol Stud 55(3):208–218. doi:10.1007/s12646-010-0034-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Basile B (2004) Self-disclosure in eating disorders. Eat Weight Disord 9(3):217–223

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Vandereycken W, Van Humbeeck I (2008) Denial and concealment of eating disorders: a retrospective survey. Eur Eat Disord Rev 16(2):109–114. doi:10.1002/erv.857

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Evans E, Hawton K, Rodham K (2005) In what ways are adolescents who engage in self-harm or experiencing thoughts of self-harm different in terms of help-seeking, communication and coping strategies? J Adolesc 28:573–587

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Horesh N, Apter A (2006) Self-disclosure, depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior in adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Crisis 27(2):66–71. doi:10.1027/0227-5910.27.2.66

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Levi-Belz Y, Gvion Y, Horesh N, Fischel T, Treves I, Or E, Stein-Reisner O, Weiser M, David H, Apter A (2014) Mental pain, communication difficulties, and medically serious suicide attempts: a case-control study. Arch Suicide Res 18(1):74–87. doi:10.1080/13811118.2013.809041

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Lloyd E, Kelley M, Hope T (1997) Self-mutilation in a community sample of adolescents: descriptive characteristics and provisional prevalence rates. Poster session at the annual meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, New Orleans, LA

  22. Lloyd E (1998) Self-mutilation in a community sample of adolescents. Doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University. Abstracts International, 58, 5127

  23. Beck AT, Steer RA, Brown GK (1996) Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II, 2nd edn. Psychological Corporation, San Antonio, TX

    Google Scholar 

  24. Garner DM, Olmstead MP, Polivy J (1983) Development and validation of a multidimensional eating disorder inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Int J Eat Disord 2(2):15–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Garner DM (1991) Eating disorder inventory-2: professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa

    Google Scholar 

  26. Garner DM, Garner MV, Rosen LW (1993) Anorexia nervosa ‘restricters’ who purge: implications for subtyping anorexia nervosa. Int J Eat Disord 13:171–185

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Niv N, Kaplan Z, Mitrani E, Shiang J (1998) Validity study of the EDI-2 in Israeli population. Israel J Psychiatry 35(4):287–292

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ahren-Moonga J, Homgren S, von Knorring L, Klintebe B (2008) Personality traits and self-injurious behavior in patients with eating disorders. Eur Eat Disord Rev 16:268–275

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Paul T, Schroeter K, Dahme B, Nutzinger DO (2002) Self-Injurious behaviors in women with eating disorders. Am J Psychiatry 159:408–411. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.3.408

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Muehlenkamp J, Brausch A, Quigley K, Whitlock J (2013) Interpersonal features and functions of nonsuicidal self-injury. Suicide Life Threat 43(1):67–80. doi:10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.00128.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Nock MK, Teper R, Hollander M (2007) Psychological treatment of self-injuring among adolescents. J Clin Psychol 63:1081–1089. doi:10.1002/jclp.20415

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Giletta M, Scholte RH, Engels RCME et al (2012) Adolescent non suicidal self-injury: a cross national study of community samples from Italy, the Netherlands and the United States. Psychiatry Res 197:66–72. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2012.02.009

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Fujimori A, Wada Y, Yamashita T, Choi H, Nishizawa S, Yamamoto H, Kenji F (2011) Parental bonding in patients with eating disorders and self-injurious behavior. Psychiatry Clin Neuros 65(3):272–279. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1819.2011.02192.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Andover MS (2010) Non-suicidal self-injury, attempted suicide, and suicidal intent among psychiatric inpatients. Psychiatry Res 178(1):101–105. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2010.03.019

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Lloyd-Richardson E, Perrine N, Dierker L, Kelley M (2007) Characteristic and functions on non-suicidal self-injury in a community sample of adolescents. Psychol Med 37(8):1183–1192. doi:10.1017/S003320170700027x

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Guan K, Fox KR, Prinstein MJ (2012) Nonsuicidal self-injury as a time-invariant predictor of adolescent suicide ideation and attempts in a diverse community sample. J Consult Clin Psych 80(5):842–849. doi:10.1037/a0029429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Kass AE, Kolko RP, Wilfley DE (2013) Psychological treatments for eating disorders. Curr Opin Psychiatry 26(6):549–555. doi:10.1097/YCO.0b013e328365a30e

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Lock J (2010) Treatment of adolescent eating disorders: progress and challenges. Minerva Psichiatr 51(3):207–216

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Murphy R, Straebler S, Basden S, Cooper Z, Fairburn CG (2012) Interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders. Clin Psychol Psychother 19(2):150–158. doi:10.1002/cpp.1780

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Stiles-Shields C, Hoste RR, Doyle PM, Le Grange DA (2012) Review of family-based treatment for adolescents with eating disorders. Rev Recent Clin Trials 7(2):133–140

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Medicine, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Petach Tikva, Israel

    Anat Brunstein Klomek, Evia Shellac, Arik Hadas, Mira Horwitz & Silvana Fennig

  2. School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzlyia, P.O. Box 167, 46150, Herzliya, Israel

    Anat Brunstein Klomek

  3. Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, School of Creative Arts Therapies, Haifa University, Haifa, Israel

    Rachel Lev-Wiesel & Evia Shellac

  4. Psychology Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Uri Berger

  5. Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Silvana Fennig

Authors
  1. Anat Brunstein Klomek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rachel Lev-Wiesel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Evia Shellac
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Arik Hadas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Uri Berger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Mira Horwitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Silvana Fennig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anat Brunstein Klomek.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Brunstein Klomek, A., Lev-Wiesel, R., Shellac, E. et al. The relationship between self-injurious behavior and self-disclosure in adolescents with eating disorders. Eat Weight Disord 20, 43–48 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-014-0145-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-014-0145-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation