Becoming a self-harmer : a discourse analysis.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Wassenaar, Douglas Richard. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Jacobs, Nicola. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-11-29T07:09:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-11-29T07:09:11Z | |
| dc.date.created | 2011 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Self-harm is a behaviour constructed as ostracised and abhorrent in most social discourses. While there is an abundance of available research about self-harm, a distinctive gap in the literature concerns how an individual begins to self-harm. Research has indicated that having a friend or family member who self-harms is the strongest predictor of future self-harm, yet no published studies have sought to explain this in detail. This thesis explored how self-harming participants construct their first self-harming experience – a behaviour which appears prima facie to be outside of socially accepted conventions, and suggests that this behaviour may become normalised through knowing other self-harmers. It was found that both participants had a self-harming friend prior to the onset of their self-harming behaviour, and that both participants confided in someone who subsequently began to self-harm. Participants positioned these two categories of individuals in different ways. Participants relied on a ‘victim’ discourse to establish their self-harm as meaningful in a way which limited any blame or stigma attributable to them, but which subsequently limited their agency in their narratives. The discourse of attention-seeking heavily influenced participants’ narratives, and was acknowledged as the dominant discourse self-harmers must contend with in presenting their behaviour as meaningful and rational. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10413/8047 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en |
| dc.subject | Self-mutilation. | en |
| dc.subject | Mental illness. | en |
| dc.subject | Theses--Psychology. | en |
| dc.subject | Self-injurious behaviour. | en |
| dc.title | Becoming a self-harmer : a discourse analysis. | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |