THE FUNCTION OF SELF-HARMING BEHAVIOR

The various forms of self-harming behaviour are briefly described and then a functional analysis of this behaviour is attempted from the per spective of systems theory. According to systems theory, self-harming behaviour can be ascribed the function of ensuring communicative addre ssing with a simultaneous high degree of control over the choice of to pic. The problem underlying this problem-solving behaviour can probabl y be found in an insufficient faith in the response readiness of the e nvironment and thus in the connective potential of the subject's own c ommunicative contributions, which goes together with fragile self-este em. From the point of view of bonding theory, it can be suspected that these patients' bonding organisation has become disorganized and inse cure as the result of serious disturbances of their early bonding rela tionships. The self-harming patient is acting as both perpetrator and victim, an arrangement that achieves a high degree of independence fro m the other and thus from professional helpers. This perspective expla ins the psychotherapist's difficulty in establishing a stable bond wit h the patient which can be viewed as a variant of earlier bonding rela tionships.