The Psychology of Self-Injury: Exploring Self-Harm & Mental Health31 Jan 2025

Are Therapists Willing to Treat Self-Injury?, with Spencer Ellison & Dr. Jennifer Muehlenkamp

In this episode, Spencer Ellison and Dr. Jennifer Muehlenkamp read a hypothetical case vignette of a client who engages in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), has experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviors, or is experiencing significant depression. They then tell us how willing therapists are to treat each case (self-injury vs. suicide vs. depression), if therapists would accept them into their clinical practice, and if it depends on the therapists' (1) liability concerns, (2) comfort/skill confidence to treat self-harm, (3) attitude toward self-harm in general, and (4) attitude towards clients who self-harm.

Learn more about Dr. Muehlenkamp at her University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire faculty page here, and see her growing list of peer-reviewed publications on Google Scholar here. Learn more about Trinity Equestrian Center at www.trinity-ec.com. Below are a couple research studies referenced in this episode:

Levi-Belz, Y., Barzilay, S., Levy, D., & David, O. (2020). To treat or not to treat: The effect of hypothetical patients' suicidal severity on therapists' willingness to treat. Archives of Suicide Research, 24(3), 355-366.
Groth, T., & Boccio, D. E. (2019). Psychologists’ willingness to provide services to individuals at risk of suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(5), 1241-1254.

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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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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 Juli 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 Juni 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 Maj 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 Mars 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