A qualitative
analysis of the function and intent of self-mutilative behavior in an
adolescent female Wendy Bedenko Chicago School
of Professional Psychology dissertation, 2001 The
intent and function of self-mutilative behavior (SMB) was explored in this
study, via the progression and analysis of psychotherapeutic treatment with
an adolescent female. A single subject case study qualitative design was
utilized to explore the idiosyncratic phenomenon of SMB within this
adolescent's experience. The data in this study were analyzed according to
relevant emergent categories and themes. As
discussed in the literature review, Walsh and Rosen (1988) expressed the
difficulties of uncovering issues of intent and suggested the need for more
research. Suyemoto and MacDonald state, "Narrative research methods with
the adolescents themselves are needed to obtain a greater understanding of
self-mutilation" (1995, p. 170). The
issues forming the first set of working categories within this dissertation
were originally culled from the literature concerning the intent and function
of SMB. Utilization of these concerns of control, of communication of affect,
and of coping evolved into five working thematic interests: issues of
control; issues of labeling; affective experiences; struggles to assert voice
and claim efficacy; and the search for self-identity and self-knowledge. An
additional category evolved from the context of the stated research interest
in the process of development as witnessed within the therapy, specifically
phases of development as witnessed within the therapy. The
themes of Voice, Self, Labeling, Control and Affect were informed by feminist
developmental theory, most especially as proposed by Gilligan’s (1982) theory
concerning "loss of voice," and Taylor's, Gilligan's, and Sullivan's
(1995) research on "resistance." The idea of the need for a
political resistance, overtly or covertly, by girls living in a culture of
inequality and disdain presents interesting challenges to the ways abnormal
behaviors are viewed. This dissertation proposed that SMB may represent a
metaphoric, if problematic, form of resistance in some adolescent females. (Adapted
for instructional purposes from PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA) |