Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to investigate the proposed diagnostic criteria of Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) under the chapter of "conditions under further study". There is much research about self-injury as a behaviour, but there is very little empirical evidence about the NSSI criteria, its assessment, prevalence, treatment, and prevention. There is no indigenous literature on the number of NSSI cases, assessment techniques, or therapy. The current study was conducted in government, semi-government, and private colleges and universities in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The quasi-experimental study was done. The sample ranged from 18 to 25 years old and consisted of college and university students. The study was divided into two sections: first, a manual for the NSSI condition was developed based on Cognitive Behaviour Hypnotherapy (CBH). A pilot study was conducted after expert review and refinement of the manual. The second study screened n=600 people for NSSI, and the number of self-injury occurrences in the sample was calculated among the 419 valid forms after filtering out missing information forms. According to the data gathered, 26.4 percent of the n=419 participants have engaged in self-injury at least once in the last 12 months. The sample size was estimated using Gpower software, which was of atleast n=30 per arm. The screened sample for the main study (n=600) was completed, and based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a sample of n=71 was chosen for the quasi-experiment and divided into groups (treatment vs non-equivalent control group). The treatment group received CBH and showed significant improvement in pre- and post-testing scores on paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test. The independednt sample t-test between treatment and non-equivalent control group (M=0.87, SD=0.90 and M=4.47, SD= 3.38, respectively) on post-testing and follow-up were also significant. The mixed model repeated measure ANOVA for pre, post, and follow-up between treatment and non-equivalent control groups revealed that CBH had a substantially more significant effect (F(1,58)=53.16, p.001). These findings indicate that providing CBH to the NSSI condition efficiently improves symptoms. Furthermore, the presentation of CBH demonstrated a sustained better effect on the symptoms of NSSI in a 3-month follow-up. Finally, emotional support from the family system might function as a coping method for NSSI.
