Reinforcement of Self-injury
Some people who have a history of self-injury have been found to have a higher threshold for physical pain. Similar to how some people have a naturally higher tolerance to alcohol and need to drink more to feel “buzzed,” this can mean that people who self-injure may need to do so more severely in order to get the same calming effect which can lead to chronicity (e. g. skin picking may escalate into finger pricking, cutting, and burning). Opponent-process theory, developed in the 1970s by Richard Solomon, gives an account of how aversive states such as physiological stress or pain can be rewarding in itself and has been proposed as an explanatory model for self-harm.
Self-injury is also thought to become chronic through operant conditioning. That is to say that it is habit forming because of its consequences. One relevant type of conditioning is positive reinforcement (i. e. additive) where a behavior becomes more frequent because of an increase in a rewarding or desirable consequence. The other relevant form of operant conditioning is through negative reinforcement (i. e. subtracting) in which the behavior decreases an undesirable event or experience. Each of the examples described above can be classified as positively or negatively reinforcing. Nonverbal communication of desiring help from others is positively reinforcing because it can elicit a response from the environment. Other times, someone may feel as though other people are being too demanding, e. g. engaging in a very long stressful conversation with a significant other. Self-injuring in this context with the intent of decreasing the demands (e. g. stopping the difficult conversation) becomes negatively reinforcing because it removes an unwanted environment condition. Someone may feel overwhelmed with their anxiety may self-injure to get rid of the anxiety.
Although the physiological mechanisms are unclear, engaging in painful behaviors can decrease arousal or emotional pain, which makes it negatively reinforcing. Someone may feel numb or as though they don’t have any emotions. This can also be very unpleasant so self-injury can make someone feel physical pain and may also stimulate an emotional response, which makes it positively reinforcing.
Read more about this topic: Self-harm