Table 3.
Evidence on the association between NSSI urges and affect and the association between NSSI urges and NSSI acts
| Paper | Affect | Association with affect | Association with acts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ammerman et al. (2017) | PANAS NA (M) Current |
/ | Daily urges were positively associated with the probability to engage in NSSI that day |
| Andrewes et al. (2016) + Andrewes et al. (2017) | PANAS NA (M) PANAS PA (M) Short-form with 5 items each ‘Negative complex emotions’ (NCE): number of NA items rated >2 Current |
Significant positive predictors of thought occurrence: - changes in NA - changes in PA - NCE - ‘distressed’ item from NA scale |
Md = 34.9 hr (range 0–122 hr) passed from initial thoughts about NSSI to NSSI act |
| Bresin et al. (2013) | PANAS-X NA (M) PANAS-X guilt (M) PANAS-X sadness (M) Daily |
Significant predictors of daily urge occurrence: - daily NA - daily sadness (not guilt) - (trait) negative urgency x daily sadness |
/ |
| Hochard et al. (2015) | PANAS-NA (M) Current |
Significant predictors of NSSI urge in the morning: - NA |
/ |
| Humber et al. (2013) | Anger affect (1–10) sum of: irritable, wound up, frustrated, angry, touchy, annoyed Distress (1–10) sum of: hopeless, trapped, low, isolated, helpless, lonely, worthless Current |
Significant positive predictors of concurrent urges: - anger affect - anger ex-in - anger ex-out (also associated with NSSI urges one prompt later) |
/ |
| Kranzler et al. (2018) + Hughes et al. (2019) | NA (0–10) sum of: sad, angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, hurt/emotionally rejected, guilty anxious/afraid, lonely, ashamed, empty/numb, physically numb PA (0–10) sum of: content, relieved, proud, experiencing a rush or a high, excited, satisfied calm/relaxed, happyCurrent |
Significant positive t−1 predictors of t0thought intensity - NA - anxious/afraid - overwhelmed Significant negative t−1 predictor of t0 NSSI thought intensity - PA |
NSSI thought intensity at t−1 positively predicted NSSI act probability at t0 |
| Lear et al. (2019) | Guilt, Hostility, Sadness, and Fear subscales of PANAS X (1–5) | Significant positive predictors of daily urge intensity - guilt - sadness |
NSSI urge intensity was positively associated with same day NSSI act probability |
| Daily | - hostility | ||
| Nock et al. (2009) + Selby et al. (2014) | Sad/worthless, overwhelmed, scared/anxious, angry at self, self-hatred, angry at another, rejected/hurt, numb/nothing (scale not reported) Retrospective: what led to the thought? |
What were you feeling (before NSSI thoughts)? 37.9/39.8% sad/worthless 33.8/45.6% overwhelmed 31.3/32.0% scared/anxious 21.7/48.5% angry at self 21.7/42.7% self-hatred 23.3/35.0% angry at another 15.0/34.0% rejected/hurt 9.2/21.4% numb/nothing |
NSSI thoughts were significantly positively associated with the probability for NSSI acts when thoughts were preceded by: - being alone - feeling sad/worthless - feeling angry at self - feeling self-hatred - feeling at another person - feeling rejected/hurt - feeling numb/nothing |
| Amount of time that passed from thought to NSSI act: For individuals with an APR motivation (automatic positive reinforcement) mostly 1–30 min For non-APR mostly < 1 min |
|||
| Scala et al. (2018) | NA (0–100) M of: irritable, sad, frightened, angry Current |
Significant predictors of NSSI urge occurrence - interaction of NA (high) x self-concept clarity (low) - NA alone not significant |
/ |
| Selby et al. (2013) | / | / | Amount of time that passed from urge to NSSI act: < 1min (68%) 1 – 5 min (20%) 10 – 30 min (12%) |
| Shingleton et al. (2013) | Open question: “What led to the NSSI thoughts?” Retrospective |
What led to the NSSI thought? % cases of all NSSI thoughts 8.2% criticism/ insult 21.1% feeling rejected/hurt 38.2% feeling sad/worthless |
/ |
| Snir et al. (2015) | NA (0–4) M of: tense, disappointed, afraid, sad, angry, irritated Current |
Significant predictor of urge occurrence: - NA NA increased before the urge, continued rising after and then faded in a linear-quadratic-cubic pattern |
/ |
| Turner et al. (2016a) + Turner et al. (2016b) + Turner et al. (2018) | Sad/worthless, overwhelmed, scared/anxious, angry at self, self-hatred, angry at another, rejected/hurt, numb/nothing Retrospective for morning, afternoon, evening |
Retrospective feelings reported for ‘right before’ urge: overwhelmed (58.8%) sad/worthless (49.0%) rejected/hurt (45.1%) angry at self (41.2%) self-hatred, scared/anxious (39.2%) angry at others (25.5%) numb/nothing (21.6%) |
NSSI thoughts were significantly positively associated with the probability for NSSI acts when thoughts were preceded by: - arguments/conflicts - feeling rejected/hurt Time passed between NSSI thought and act on average between 1 and 30 min - Fleeting thoughts led to acts on 23.4% of days they occurred - Persistent thoughts led to acts on 37% of days they occurred - Intense urges led to acts on 57.6% of days they occurred |
| Victor et al. (2108) N = 62 |
‘Intemalizing’ NA (1–5) M of: ashamed, guilty, scared, lonely, sad ‘Externalizing’ NA (1–5) M of: hostile, irritable, angry at others, annoyed, mad Past 15 min |
Significant positive t−1predictors of t0 NSSI urge occur- rence: - internalizing NA (externalizing NA significant when entered alone, not significant when tested against internalizing NA) |
/ |
Note. PANAS = Positive negative affect scale with a range of range 1 (very slightly/ not at all) to 5 (extremely), NA = negative affect, PA = positive affect, BPD = Borderline Personality Disorder, APD = Avoidant Personality Disorder.