The Psychology of Self-Injury: Exploring Self-Harm & Mental Health25 Jul 2025

Help-Seeking for Self-Injury, with Nani Kim, RN

In this episode, Nani Kim, RN from the University of Texas at Austin talks all things help-seeking for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). This includes common reasons people give for choosing to seek help for self-harm, common forms of help-seeking behavior for NSSI, how often individuals who self-injure seek help for their self-injury, why they choose to seek help, what types of help they receive, and what happens when they seek help for self-injury.

Below are a few references from this episode:

Kim, N., Young, C. C., Kim, B. R., Rew, L., & Westers, N. J. (in press). Help-seeking behaviors in adolescents and young adults who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury: An integrative review. Journal of Adolescent Health. Advance online publication (free to access through August 7, 2025).
Nadler, A. (1987). Determinants of help seeking behaviour: The effects of helper’s similarity, task centrality and recipient’s self esteem. European Journal of Social Psychology, 17(1), 57-67.
Mackesy, C. (2019). The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse: Inspiring conversations on hope, love and personal growth. HarperOne.

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The Psychology of Self-Injury podcast has been rated as one of the "10 Best Self Harm Podcasts" and "20 Best Clinical Psychology Podcasts" by Feedspot and one of the Top 100 Psychology Podcasts by Goodpods. It has also been featured in Audible's "Best Mental Health Podcasts to Defy Stigma and Begin to Heal."

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Episoder(77)

Can Imagery Help Reduce Self-Harm?, with Dr. Nicholas Westers

Mental imagery refers to sensory processing in the absence of sensory stimuli, and this can be through our visual senses or our senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Below are links to some of t...

21 Sep 1h

Lived Experience: Brittany's Story of Self-Injury & Faith (Re-Release)

In this episode, Brittany details her experience of engaging in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), how it started, and how she makes sense of self-injury and her faith in God. She explains two starkly di...

28 Aug 1h 6min

The Psychology of Self-Injury Pain (Re-Release)

What is the relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and pain? Are individuals who self-injure less sensitive to pain than those who don’t self-injure? What are the ethics involved in condu...

31 Jul 1h 5min

The Neurobiology of Self-Injury (in Layman's Terms) [Re-Release]

What goes on at the neurobiological level that makes someone more vulnerable to self-injure or self-harm? What biological risk factors are at play? What roles do the vagus nerve, cortisol levels, and ...

26 Jun 50min

The Psychology of Self-Injury Scarring (Re-Release)

How are scars from nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) different than physical scars that are unintentional or result from non-self-inflicted wounds ? What psychological effects can result from daily remin...

29 Mai 43min

Eating Disorders & Self-Harm (Re-Release)

The term "self-harm" is an umbrella term, encompassing a broad range of behaviors, under which is included substance abuse and misuse, suicide, nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and even eating disorder...

28 Apr 38min

Emotion Regulation Individual Therapy for Adolescents (ERITA) Who Self-Harm (Re-Release)

Emotion Regulation Individual Therapy for Adolescents (ERITA) and its internet-delivered version (IERITA) is just one of a couple of treatments developed specifically to address nonsuicidal self-injur...

27 Mar 1h 13min

Emotion Regulation Group Therapy (ERGT) for Self-Harm (Re-Release)

A lot of therapies address the context in which nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and self-harm may occur, but only a few treatments have been designed to address NSSI specifically. In this episode, we d...

27 Feb 1h 40min