The basis causes of self-destructive conduct can fluctuate from individual to individual, based on licensed drug and alcohol counselor Candace Kotkin-De Carvalho LSW, LCADC, CCS, CCTP. A number of the commonest causes embrace an absence of constructive coping abilities, unresolved points from childhood or adolescence, and poor psychological well being.
Lorz describes self-destructive behaviors as being the product of both misguided makes an attempt at self-protection or moments of dissociation. They’re typically formed by beliefs you may have about your self, what you deserve, and the way you may have taken within the messages of the world and people round you, she says, making them basically a response to non-public circumstances which have had a traumatic impression on you. They might have even labored (otherwise you believed that they’ve labored) prior to now to guard you from feeling confused, overwhelmed, harm, exhausted, scared, or in peril, she provides, however in the end these coping mechanisms are actually inflicting extra hurt than safety.
Osibodu-Onyali provides that when individuals have skilled a number of destructive occasions and even traumas, it adjustments the way in which they view themselves, others, and the world. “They start to count on unhealthy issues to occur, and when good issues come their means, they introduce self-destructive behaviors in order that issues return to the destructive sample they’re used to. It isn’t that they take pleasure in negativity; it is simply that it is acquainted,” she says.
Moreover, self-destructive behaviors will be signs of many psychological well being points, based on Manly. For instance, an individual who’s affected by melancholy might interact in self-protective behaviors, like not going to work as a result of an absence of vitality or to keep away from stress, which might be in the end self-destructive. Those that endure from substance use problems might resort to self-destructive behaviors, together with stealing to take care of the dependancy or driving whereas underneath the affect, with little or no capacity to genuinely respect the long-term impression; the cumulative results of those behaviors are sometimes tragic.
“Quite a lot of psychological well being problems corresponding to BPD typically depart the sufferer caught in a cycle of self-destructive behaviors that depart the person feeling offended, remoted, and misunderstood,” she provides.
