Differentiating incest survivors who self-mutilate

Differentiating incest survivors who self-mutilate

Objective: This study was an exploratory analysis of the variables which differentiated incest survivors who self-mutilate from those who do not.

Method: A sample of women incest survivors (N = 84) were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of self-mutilation. Participants included both community and clinical populations. A packet consisting of a demographic questionnaire, Sexual Attitudes Survey, Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms, Dissociative Events Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory was completed by each participant.

Results: Demographic, incest, and family of origin variables distinguished the self-mutilating women from those who did not. These include ethnicity and educational experiences; duration, frequency, and perpetrator characteristics regarding the incest; and multiple abuses, instability, birth order, and loss of mother in one’s family of origin. Psychological and physical health concerns also differentiated between the two groups.

Conclusions: Many variables may differentiate between women incest survivors who self-mutilate from those who do not. A rudimentary checklist to describe the lives of incest survivors who self-mutilate resulted from these findings. The importance of the concept of embodiment is also discussed.

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health

Self-mutilation, Incest, Checklist, Adult women