Abstract

COELHO, Ana Lorena; MING-WAU, Carlos; MELO, Anna Karynne  and  LEITE, Darla Moreira Carneiro. Self-Mutilation Experiences under the Lens of Gestalt Therapy. Rev. Psicol. Saúde [online]. 2022, vol.14, n.2, pp.69-82.  Epub July 05, 2024. ISSN 2177-093X.  https://doi.org/10.20435/pssa.v14i2.1749.

Self-mutilation is a dysfunctional creative adjustment, considered by gestalt therapy as a retroflection. It is a self-destructive behavior in search of dealing with suffering in the organism-environment field. The aim of this article was to understand, under the lens of gestalt therapy, the experience of self-mutilation of patients hospitalized for a suicide attempt. We used the phenomenological method in these steps: phenomenological reduction, description of the internal vectors of the phenomenon, and explanation of the experience in its different meanings. Four women who were hospitalized for suicide attempts and who practice self-mutilation participated in the study. We provided psychological assistance to the participants in their beds, whose excerpts about self-mutilation were recorded in a logbook, and then analyzed. We found that self-mutilation is a form of punishment for flagellating their bodies with cuts to gradually kill themselves. Therefore, as a retroflexed process, self-mutilation is a way of self-control, avoidance of contact, and frustration to adjust creatively.

Keywords : self-destructive behavior; self-mutilation; suicide attempts; gestalt therapy; retroflection.

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