Introduction:

Among the mental health problems of adolescents, self-harm is a phenomenon with significant incidence and prevalence today, making it essential to develop research that aims to understand the emotional aspects associated with this practice. Thus, the present study aimed to study the ego strength of adolescents with self-harm behavior through the Desiderative Questionnaire.

Method:

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study. The sample consisted of 52 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 10 and 16 years, with self-harm behavior, in the city of Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Self-harm group), and 63 adolescents without suspicion of self-harm (Control group) from the same city. Data analysis was performed based on the categorization and classification of the responses to the applied instrument and statistical analysis to compare the differences between the groups, through the Student's t-test and p-values.

Results:

The data indicate lower ego strength in the group of adolescents who self-harm when compared to the Control group, indicating fragility in the structuring and integration of the Self, with ineffective defenses in the face of internal and/or interpersonal conflicts.

Conclusion:

It is concluded that young people with self-harm behavior present emotional characteristics that demand intervention actions to support, endure and alleviate psychological suffering.

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