The Truths About Self-Injury with Dr. Jason Washburn

In this episode, Ameé chat's with Dr. Jason J. Washburn, the Director of Graduate Studies for the Clinical Psychology MA and PhD Programs at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Jason Washburn's clinical interests include mental health treatment and evaluation of children and adolescents, including nonsuicidal self-injury, pediatric bipolar disorder, and the development of antisocial behaviors and has published numerous articles and studies related to suicide and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), such as cutting. 

Jason covers what recent research is showing in terms of the reasons people hurt themselves and the positive and negative consequences of it and some of the things he shares may surprise you. 

You will hear: 

• What is self-harm or self-injury?
• What kinds of activities are considered self-harm and what isn't? 
• What are some of the reasons people do it? Are they just doing it for attention?
• Are tattoos and body modifications considered self-harm?
• What is the evidence researcher now understand about its origins?
• Does it correlate with suicide? 
• Is NSSI "contagious"? 
• What kind of treatment approaches are there?

Resources Mentioned
http://www.selfinjury.bctr.cornell.edu/

http://sioutreach.org/about-sios/

https://itriples.org/

Book by Jason Washburn | Self-Injury: Simple Answers to Complex Questions

Healing Self-Injury: A Compassionate Guide for Parents and Other Loved Ones

Freedom from Self-harm: Overcoming Self-Injury with Skills from DBT and Other Treatments