Understanding the impact of involuntary discoveries of nonsuicidal self-injury: a thematic analysis

Growing research has examined instances of voluntarily disclosed nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), including how people with lived experience are impacted when they choose to share their NSSI with others. Voluntary disclosure, however, represents just one way that NSSI experiences become known to others; NSSI can also be discovered involuntarily, yet little to no research has explored the impact of these experiences. To understand the impact of these Involuntary Discovery Experiences (IDEs) the present study recruited 139 university students (Mage = 19.13, SD = 2.12; nfemale = 121) with lived experience of NSSI and who reported having a past IDE. Participants took part in an online study involving a series of open-ended questions concerning their past IDEs. A thematic analysis of their responses pointed to three overarching psychological impacts of IDEs: I felt Stigmatized and Marginalized, Things did not go well, and I No Longer felt Alone in my experience. These findings offer initial insights into the ways people with lived experience of NSSI may be impacted by IDEs and point to several new important research avenues. The current findings also suggest that clinicians may need to ask clients about any potential IDEs and their impact in order to best support clients who self-injure.