Self-harm in psychoanalytic psychotherapy – A psychosocial case study

Abstract

Presented is the case of a 17-years old girl engaging in self-harm since she started emancipation from the institutional care. The psychoanalytical analysis of self-harm taking into consideration the psychosocial context in which the emancipation took place, revealed that depressive episodes and anxiety states, especially the ‘fear of falling apart’ triggered self-harm symptoms, which were a progressive element of dealing with the separation-individuation process when deficits in the mental and environmental structure were parallelly present. This psychoanalytical case study shows the value of psychoanalytic thinking combining biopsychological and environmental perspectives and the practical utility of such a marriage.