Adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) interventions

Abstract

Topic: Evidence-based treatment of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents.

Purpose: To review the evidence base supporting current interventions for NSSI.

Sources used: PubMed searches and ancestry analysis.

Conclusions: All treatments studied-developmental group therapy, individual cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy for adolescents-were found to be comparable to the typical treatments offered in the treatment settings where the research was conducted. Additional strategies such as harm reduction have very limited evidence suggesting they may be helpful. A few common interventions including relaxation techniques have extremely limited evidence suggesting they may be perceived as harmful by clients.