Women's narrative of self-injury (Study of women in Tabriz)

Self-injury is an act in which a person intentionally, impulsively and non-fatally injures his body. This phenomenon occurs in various forms, the most common method of which is cutting the ankle with a razor or a sharp tool. This research seeks women's narratives of self-harm. This article has been done with a qualitative approach and phenomenological method.

The research method was qualitative and the research approach was descriptive phenomenology. The statistical population of this study were women with self-injurious symptoms living in Tabriz. 16 people were selected by purposive sampling with an age range of 14-40 years. The data collection tools were semi-structured interviews and the data were analyzed using Colaizzi method (open coding, axial, selective).

From the interviews, four main categories include: a) Definitions and contexts (self-injury from the perspective of women, methods and contexts), b) Types of self-injury (including belonging to the peer group, pressure, emotion control and self-punishment), c) Causes and motivations (poor communication skills, role modeling, belonging to a peer group, inability to manage emotions, inability to solve social problems, inability to convey social messages, family troubles) and d) consequences (group belonging, attention, Message transmission) was detected.

Women's self-aggression is a form of protest against the status quo and hurts themselves in an attempt to relieve unbearable emotional pressure. Examining the contexts of women's self-injurious behavior acknowledges the dependence of women's self-injurious motives on culture and social conditions.