Under the same stressful circumstances, two different people may behave differently from each other. This is completely normal. But why will one be cool and calm, while the other, filled with anger, will beat the wall until his own knuckles crack? Does the self-preservation instinct work in the second case? Why do some people voluntarily hurt themselves? We will answer these questions in our article.
Under the same stressful circumstances, two different people may behave differently from each other.
A large number of people are prone to directing negative emotions towards themselves, namely self-aggression. Self-harm is facilitated by anger, anger, irritation, resentment and fears. When uncontrolled actions are committed at the time of psychological trauma, they cause great damage to physiological health. It could be anything: thoughts of suicide, taking alcohol or drugs, hitting yourself and much more. A person may be aware of their own self-destructive behavior, but more often it occurs unconsciously. Thus, an autoaggressive person does not admit that troubles are his fault, but considers them an accident. For example, such a person will provoke a fight, drive in a state of insanity, work without rest, bringing himself to a critical state.
A large number of people are prone to directing negative emotions towards themselves, namely self-aggression
Causes of auto-aggression
Auto-aggression is developed by situational triggers and social factors that cause a critical reaction. Consequently, with frequent attacks, the threshold for stress resistance changes. Reasons for aggressive behavior include:
Consequences of education
An aggressive behavioral reaction manifests itself after humiliation and lack of parental love. In fact, there are many reasons. They also include unfounded criticism, frequent blame, high expectations, comparison with the successes of other children, deprivation of care or communication as punishment. Toxic relatives often leave their mark on our lives, especially if they are parents. Read our article for some information about such people and how to deal with them.
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Violence
People who have been subjected to violence are more likely to commit self-aggressive actions. This way they release unreacted emotions and relieve accumulated tension.
Commitment to ideology
Passion for religions, various kinds of philosophical and esoteric teachings is often faced with the impossibility of fulfilling and observing certain rules. For this reason, an enthusiastic person begins to experience internal tension, self-loathing, and feelings of guilt.
and even shame.
Dissatisfaction with relationships with people
The lack of an open response to conflicts, prohibitions and unacceptable demands forms auto-aggressive behavior. Self-harm in such situations allows a person to both relieve tension and maintain social relationships.
Mental illness
People attempt suicide and self-harm when they cannot bear the experience of their own physical helplessness, severe depression, and acute pain.
Desire for manipulation
The true purpose of auto-aggression in this case is to be demonstrative for the sake of the attention of others and to benefit from it.
Pathogenesis
Pathogenesis is a stressful situation that precedes auto-aggression and arises on a social basis. A stressful situation, as a rule, is the loss of a loved one, as well as the lack of family and team support. When exposed to a cause, a protective-adaptive reaction occurs—auto-aggression.
Auto-aggression and the instinct of self-preservation
The instinct of self-preservation is manifested by promotion and demotion, as well as perversion. When it decreases, autoaggression is observed. The disease can be combined with masochism. A combination of reduced self-preservation and autodestruction occurs in psychopathy, pathological personality development, schizophrenia, and psychopath-like states. More severe manifestations of the combination are suicide or suicides. And the first place in the world among attempts to kill oneself is occupied by the same mental disorders.
Kinds
There are several classifications of auto-aggression. The doctor is primarily interested in the main component – the cause of the disease.
In accordance with etiological factors, the following forms of self-destruction are distinguished:
- Mental. It includes personality traits that, under the influence of internal and/or external stimuli, are reduced into self-destructive actions. The main manifestations are self-blame and self-abasement.
- Physical. The symptoms of this type of disorder are dominated by actions accompanied by violence against one’s body. The patient is capable of hitting himself, making punctures and cuts.
- Social. The patient isolates himself from communication and strives to become an outcast from society. At the same time, he has a paradoxical joyful reaction from the fact that people begin to react negatively to the sick person.
- Moral. Characterized by dependencies. Suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction, a person deliberately isolates himself from other people, undergoes self-exhaustion, and emotional devastation.
Establishing the characteristics of this nature allows the psychiatrist to take a more selective approach to the treatment of deviation.
Classification
Auto-aggressive behavior does not always mean causing physical harm. The disease is divided into types. For example, according to the sphere of influence, self-directed aggression can be spiritual, physical, social and psychological. According to the degree of arbitrariness - conscious and unconscious. According to the method of implementation, they distinguish between indirect, extended, direct and trans-aggressive. Signs of autodestruction include:
- Changes in eating behavior;
- Craving for extreme sports;
- Tendency to self-harm;
- Suicidal tendencies;
- Self-isolation;
- Fanatical behavior;
- Dependence on psychotropic drugs, alcohol, drugs, etc.
Who is at risk?
Emotionally unstable and impulsive people are most often self-aggressive. It is more difficult for them to cope with outbursts of anger, including those directed at themselves. But unconsciously autoaggressive individuals are calmer and do not express emotions, due to which they accumulate them. Also, auto-destruction can manifest itself in people who, for example, grew up in families where it is not customary to discuss relationships and talk about their dissatisfaction. Thus, the environment, like no other, can instill auto-aggressive feelings in a person.
Children who are sensitive to the emotional state of others, have low self-esteem, are withdrawn, and uncommunicative are susceptible to self-destruction. Children with insufficient attention direct aggression towards themselves in order to manipulate their parents.
Emotionally unstable and impulsive people are most often self-aggressive
Forecast and preventive measures
When undergoing full therapy and following all medical recommendations, prognostic expectations are quite favorable. A number of patients ask our psychiatrists how to completely get rid of a possible relapse of auto-aggression in the future. We offer them to undergo rehabilitation - a set of restorative and preventive measures that consolidate the results of treatment.
If you have a problem and you don’t know how to treat it, contact our Leto mental health center. Call 8(969)060-93-93 and we will make your well-being easier as soon as possible.
Complications
Without psychotherapeutic help, severe manifestations of auto-aggression result in death as a result of suicide attempts, overdose of psychotropic substances, and alcohol. Other consequences include depression, which progresses against a background of guilt and repressed aggression. If this is already familiar to you, or you know someone who has experienced depression, then read the instructions on how to help a person who suffers from this disease .
In addition to the above-mentioned complications, a self-destructive personality runs the risk of physical injury and physical illness. The most common are muscle and ligament sprains, bruises, fractures of the limbs and spine, skin infections, severe intoxication and coma.
KOMAROVSKY'S OPINION
Evgeniy Olegovich believes that a child’s aggression directed at himself cannot be ignored. He also suggests the following algorithm of actions during an attack:
- Physically stop the child. For example, if he swings to hit himself, confidently hold his hand.
- Offer an adequate way to let off steam, for example, hitting a soft sofa until it feels better.
- Express the child’s feelings: “you’re angry,” “you’re offended.”
- After the child has calmed down, have a calm conversation about the consequences of anger towards oneself and ways to adequately respond in a language that the child can understand.
Prevention
Prevention of auto-aggressive behavior is, first of all, the process of developing effective and adaptive stress-overcoming behavior for a person. It includes the following behavioral strategies: the ability to solve life problems, seek and find support, communicate effectively, think, solve everyday life problems and act in extreme situations. Formation of an adequate position of one’s “I” in relation to loved ones, family priorities and traditions and the surrounding society. To achieve this, you need to learn to express your negative emotions and live them in a socially acceptable way without harm to yourself.
Don't hold onto anger and resentment
. If you are angry with a person, tell him so.
Don't be afraid to express your emotions with words
. If you learn to do this correctly, then there will be no reason for self-aggression.
Listen to yourself more often
, do not build your life on feelings of guilt and debt. Allow yourself to have conflicts with others without creating internal conflicts. The fewer contradictions, the less tension and self-aggression.
Get rid of perfectionism
. If you set yourself a difficult goal, be willing to accept failure. It's impossible to do everything perfectly. Implementation implies failures. This is fine. There is no need to waste your time on self-flagellation. Give yourself adequate criticism, and move on, forward to new achievements.
What it is
Some psychologists mean by auto-aggression negative emotions directed towards oneself: anger, rage, irritation and others. Others are self-destructive behavior, harming themselves, their well-being and peace of mind. I adhere to the second understanding, because emotions are a delicate thing and must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. With behavior, everything is usually clearer.
Auto-aggression can manifest itself in different ways. Sometimes a person is aware that he is angry with himself and harming himself, and sometimes he does it unconsciously. In this case, the person does not recognize auto-aggression, but something happens to him, as if “by chance.” For example, he loses caution and gets injured at home, or begins to intensively seek conflicts and provokes a fight. Or he works without rest and ends up in the hospital with an exacerbation of a stomach ulcer.
Auto-aggression does not necessarily mean active actions such as inflicting wounds on oneself. Unconsciously, it can manifest itself in careless driving that causes accidents, alcohol and drug abuse, or breaking the habit of looking left before crossing the road. Unhealthy habits like smoking and overeating are also auto-aggression. By the way, some psychoanalysts consider smoking and drinking alcohol as signs of fixation at the oral-sadistic stage - the period when the child bites the mother's breast and thus realizes his power over her. After all, alcohol and smoking give burning sensations concentrated in the oral cavity. But passion for extreme sports is more often caused by the desire to fill some emptiness in life and make it brighter due to a surge of adrenaline - in my opinion, most of these sports in reality are not as dangerous as they seem at first glance. Drinking alcohol or driving aggressively is more destructive than, for example, mountain biking.
Sometimes auto-aggression is not expressed in any actions, but manifests itself in psychosomatics. A person does not release negative emotions, accumulates stress and gets a real disease. Most often these are diseases of the cardiovascular system (for example, hypertension) or the gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, ulcers, esophagitis).
Treatment of auto-aggression
When treating auto-aggressive behavior, an individual approach is important. To select the correct treatment, both the development of the disorder and the patient’s personal characteristics are taken into account. The general treatment regimen includes:
Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy
Treatment involves awareness and change of negative attitudes directed towards oneself. Self-esteem, guilt complex, hyper-responsibility and uncertainty manifested through auto-aggression are subject to elaboration. The level of self-control increases, and destructive behavior is replaced by productive behavior.
Group trainings
During the training, patients learn the skills of compromising conflict resolution, safe expression of feelings, and defending their position. During group sessions, patients receive feedback from each other, with the help of which they understand the effectiveness of their behavior.
Medicines
In case of life-threatening behavior, the doctor prescribes medications based on the dominant symptoms. Antidepressants, antipsychotics and tranquilizers can be used as medications.
DIAGNOSTICS
Auto-aggression in children can be diagnosed from an early age - from 2-3 years. It clearly manifests itself in situations of conflict and frustration, when the child’s desired does not coincide with what is actually realized. With age, the child learns to postpone and hide auto-aggressive symptoms. Diagnosis is usually carried out by a teacher-psychologist using special methods and techniques. Here are some of them:
- Anamnesis collection. The specialist interviews the parents and additionally the child if he is older than 7-8 years. The content of the conversation usually consists of questions about the main symptoms of auto-aggression, the characteristics of family relationships and life in educational organizations, the hobbies and interests of the child.
- Specialized tests and questionnaires. They can be aimed only at identifying auto-aggressive behavior and complex - for studying the personality as a whole.
- Projective tests. They suggest identifying symptoms of auto-aggression from the child’s drawings and from his interpretation of the depicted standard situations.
PSYCHOLOGIST'S RECOMMENDATIONS
Preventing auto-aggression, like other disorders, is much easier than correcting it. Therefore, the first thing to do is to pay attention to the situation in the family. Are all family members friendly to each other? Does the baby go to his parents to share his experiences? Are parents ready to support their child in any situation and try to help him in any problem, be it a mere trifle or a serious tragedy?
- If auto-aggression does begin, it is necessary to minimize or eliminate situations in which it occurs. Otherwise, it may become entrenched in habitual behavior, and then correction will become much more difficult.
- During an attack, it is important to follow the algorithm: protect, let off steam, express feelings, talk about what happened.
- If parents feel that they cannot cope with their child’s auto-aggression on their own, they should turn to specialists. With this problem, you can go to a psychologist, neurologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist.
- It is important to begin correcting self-aggressive behavior as early as possible, since the longer a child lives with this disorder, the more difficult it is to treat.
