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Desire to survive emotional pain related to self-harm: a Norwegian hermeneutic study

Anne Lise Holm1, Elisabeth Severinsson

  • 1Department of Nursing Education, Stord/Haugesund University College, Haugesund, Norway. anne.holm@hsh.no

Nursing & Health Sciences
|May 22, 2010
PubMed

The aim of this study was to explore and interpret women's desire to survive emotional pain related to self-harm. Women who suffer from borderline personality disorder describe emotional pain as intense. Previous research indicates that self-harm is a way of obtaining emotional relief and offers an escape from unwanted emotions, thoughts, and/or distressing situations. An explorative, interpretative design was employed. The data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with a sample of women resident in Norway suffering from borderline personality disorder and were analyzed using a hermeneutic approach. The findings revealed one main theme, self-sacrifice, and two other themes, self-harm (a struggle to be relieved of responsibility) and a fear of intimacy versus intrusion. This study indicates that self-sacrifice appears to imply a longing for reconnection with the self and others. To preserve their self-image, the women require courage to survive the painful state of unworthiness.

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