Social media increases self-harm

Images of self-harm on social media may reinforce a history of non-suicidal self-harm behaviors in adolescents. Experts recommend taking precautions.

“Our study shows that visual content on social media can significantly increase the urge to self-harm, especially in young people who are already at risk,” said lead author Andrea from the University Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical University of Vienna Andreas Goreis said Monday.

These findings highlight the need to prepare young people to better cope with such images and provide them with tools to improve emotional regulation and distance themselves from stressful stimuli. The study, conducted at the Medical University of Vienna, was published Monday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

attention bias

As a result, affected young people show increased concern about images of self-harm on social media. This distortion of attention—the increased and faster attention paid to such content—increases the urge to harm oneself. As a result, researchers are pushing for greater prevention and intervention efforts.

A research team from the University Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical University of Vienna analyzed adolescents aged 14 to 18 years with or without a history of non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI). Using so-called eye-tracking technology, it is possible to measure the direction and duration of gaze at different visual stimuli. In addition, reaction times to NSSI images and neutral images were recorded.

The results showed that stressed young people “reacted significantly more strongly to images of self-harm than to neutral content and had difficulty directing attention away from these images,” the study authors report. However, texts involving self-harm were Not so.

Control groups without a history of NSSI did not show comparable responses to NSSI images. For young people with no relevant experience, such content is obviously not a big problem.

Discuss this topic with those affected

According to the study, physiological stress responses such as heart rate or skin conductivity did not show any significant differences when faced with the images. But its effects can cause psychological stress.

Therefore, experts and therapists should be aware of the potential triggers caused by such images and discuss the topic with those affected. To prevent such media content, the researchers recommend “steps to improve emotion regulation skills and awareness programs.” (Sudan Development Authority/Apa)

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