Balancing between discourses of pathology and normality: biographical practice of autoaggression. The case of self-harm
How to Cite
Mikhaylova O.R. Balancing between discourses of pathology and normality: biographical practice of autoaggression. The case of self-harm. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2019. Vol. 11. No. 20. P. 77-96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2019.20.4 (in Russ.).
Abstract
In this article, the construction of the biographical identity of self-harmer who belongs to the online self-injurers community in Russian social network “Vkontakte” is analyzed. We applied a poststructuralist sociological approach to self-harm, this supposed viewing self-injury as a center of discursive struggles between different social actors and institutions. Our goal was to understand how self-harming person positions herself concerning diverse cultural discourses. We wanted to identify not only the patterns of biographical work but also the place of self-mutilation in the narrative. Before the interview we analyzed the discourse of the online community to which the informant belonged, we based our guide on the literature review and the results of discourse analysis. The sequential and thematic analyses were employed to investigate the interview data. As a result of our analysis, we identified the existence of normalizing and pathologizing discourses in the narrative and the ability of discursive influence to be differently included in the narrative (on the language and logic levels). Furthermore, we came up with methodological suggestions for further studies of the Russian online self-harm communities. The discussion of the biographical structure of self-harmer and the self-injury representations in it could become part of the discussion on the status of online mental health communities that exists among social scientists. This article also helps to illustrate the ability to combine the sociological and psychological optics in the studies of mental health.
Keywords:
self-injury, cutting, self-harm, biographical method
References
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Scourfield J., Roen K., McDermott E. (2011) The Non-Display of Authentic Distress: Public-Private Dualism in Young People’s Discursive Construction of Self-Harm. Sociology of Health & Illness. No 33 (5). P. 777—791. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2010.01322.x
Seko Y., Lewis S.P. (2018) The self-harmed, visualized, and reblogged: Remaking of self-injury narratives on Tumblr. New Media & Society. No. 20 (1). P. 180—198. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816660783
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Sternudd H.T. (2012) Photographs of Self-Injury: Production and Reception in a Group of Self-Injurers. Journal of Youth Studies. No. 15 (4). P. 421—436 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.663894
Sternudd H.T. (2014) “I Like to See Blood”: Visuality and Self-Cutting. Visual Studies. No. 29 (1). P. 14—29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586x.2014.862989
Tashakkori A., Teddlie C., Teddlie C.B. (2003) Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social & Behavioral Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Taylor J.D., Ibañez L.M. (2015) Sociological Approaches to Self-injury. Sociology Compass. No. 9 (12). P. 1005—1014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12327
Williams A.J., Nielsen E., Coulson N.S. (2018) “They Aren’t All Like That”: Perceptions of Clinical Services, as Told by Self-Harm Online Communities. Journal of Health Psychology. No. 23. P. 1—14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318788403
Zdravomyslova E., Temkina A. (2007) Rossiyskiy gendernyy poryadok: sotsiologicheskiy podkhod [Russian gender order: the sociological approach] / Zdravomyslova E., Temkina A. (eds). SPb.: YEUSPb. (In Russ.)
Adler P.A., Adler P. (2008) The Cyber Worlds of Self-Injurers: Deviant Communities, Relationships, and Selves. Symbolic Interaction. No. 31 (1). P. 33—56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2008.31.1.33
Arcoverde R.L., de Almeida Amazonas M.C.L., de Lima R.D.M. (2016) Descriptions and Interpretations on Self-Harming. Culture & Psychology. No. 22 (1). P. 110—127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067x15621474
Brossard B. (2014) Fighting with Oneself to Maintain the Interaction Order: A Sociological Approach to Self-Injury Daily Process. Symbolic Interaction. No. 37 (4). P. 558—575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.118
Daley K. (2016) Cutting Out the Pain: Sexual Abuse, Self-Injury, Abandonment and Young Women’s Substance Abuse / In: Youth and Substance Abuse. Cham: Springer International Publishing. P. 115—137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33675-6_5
Davis S., Lewis C.A. (2018) Addiction to Self-harm? The Case of Online Postings on Self- harm Message Boards. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. No. 16 (3). P. 1—16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9975-8
Eichenberg C., Schott M. (2017) An Empirical Analysis of Internet Message Boards for Self- Harming Behavior. Archives of Suicide Research. No. 21 (4). P. 672—686. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2016.1259597
Giles D.C., Newbold J. (2011) Self- and Other-Diagnosis in User-Led Mental Health Online Communities. Qual Health Res. No. 21 (3). P. 419—428. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732310381388
Giles D.C., Newbold J. (2013) “Is This Normal?” The Role of Category Predicates in Constructing Mental Illness Online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. No. 18 (4). P. 476—490. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12022
Gradin Franzén A., Gottzén L. (2011) The Beauty of Blood? Self-Injury and Ambivalence in an Internet Community. Journal of Youth Studies. No. 14 (3). P. 279—294. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2010.533755
Gray J., Dagg J. (2018) Using Reflexive Lifelines in Biographical Interviews to Aid the Collection, Visualisation and Analysis of Resilience. Contemporary Social Science. No. 3. P. 1—16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2018.1459818
Haberstroh S., Moyer M. (2012) Exploring an Online Self-Injury Support Group: Perspectives From Group Members. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work. No. 37 (2). P. 113—132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01933922.2011.646088
Jacob N., Evans R., Scourfield J. (2017) The influence of online images on self-harm: A qualitative study of young people aged 16—24. Journal of Adolescence. No. 60. P. 140—147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.08.001
Kostrova E.A. (2018) Metod ob’yektivnoy germenevtiki: problemy i perspektivy [The method of objective hermeneutics: problems and prospects]. Sotsiologiya: metodologiya, metody, matematicheskoye modelirovaniye (4M) [Sociology: methodology, methods, mathematical modeling]. No. 46. P. 123—158. (In Russ.)
Lewis S.P., Mehrabkhani S. (2016) Every Scar Tells A Story: Insight into People’s Self-Injury Scar Experiences. Counselling Psychology Quarterly. No. 29 (3). P. 296—310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2015.1088431
Margherita G., Gargiulo A. (2018) A comparison between pro-anorexia and non-suicidal self-injury blogs: From symptom-based identity to sharing of emotions. Psychodynamic Practice. 2018. No. 24 (4). P. 346—363. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14753634.2018.1535326
Nelson I. (2018) Artist for a New Age: Dissident Russian Performance Art and the Work of Petr Pavlenskii. Russian Literature. No. 96—98. P. 277—295. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ruslit.2018.05.011
Rodham K. et al. (2013) An Investigation of the Motivations Driving the Online Representation of Self-Injury: A Thematic Analysis. Archives of Suicide Research. No. 17 (2). P. 173—183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2013.776459
Rowe S.L. et al. (2014) Help-Seeking Behaviour and Adolescent Self-Harm: A Systematic Review. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. No. 12 (48). P. 1083—1095. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867414555718
Rozhdestvenskaya E.U. (2012) Biograficheskiy metod v sotsiologii [Biographical method in sociology]. M.: HSE. (In Russ.)
Scourfield J., Roen K., McDermott E. (2011) The Non-Display of Authentic Distress: Public-Private Dualism in Young People’s Discursive Construction of Self-Harm. Sociology of Health & Illness. No 33 (5). P. 777—791. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2010.01322.x
Seko Y., Lewis S.P. (2018) The self-harmed, visualized, and reblogged: Remaking of self-injury narratives on Tumblr. New Media & Society. No. 20 (1). P. 180—198. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816660783
Smithson J. et al. (2011b) Membership and Boundary Maintenance on an Online Self-Harm Forum. Qualitative Health Research. No. 21 (11). P. 1567—1575. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732311413784
Smithson J. et al. (2011a) Problem presentation and responses on an online forum for young people who self-harm. Discourse Studies. Vol. 13. № 4. P. 487—501. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445611403356
Sternudd H.T. (2012) Photographs of Self-Injury: Production and Reception in a Group of Self-Injurers. Journal of Youth Studies. No. 15 (4). P. 421—436 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2012.663894
Sternudd H.T. (2014) “I Like to See Blood”: Visuality and Self-Cutting. Visual Studies. No. 29 (1). P. 14—29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586x.2014.862989
Tashakkori A., Teddlie C., Teddlie C.B. (2003) Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social & Behavioral Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Taylor J.D., Ibañez L.M. (2015) Sociological Approaches to Self-injury. Sociology Compass. No. 9 (12). P. 1005—1014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12327
Williams A.J., Nielsen E., Coulson N.S. (2018) “They Aren’t All Like That”: Perceptions of Clinical Services, as Told by Self-Harm Online Communities. Journal of Health Psychology. No. 23. P. 1—14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318788403
Zdravomyslova E., Temkina A. (2007) Rossiyskiy gendernyy poryadok: sotsiologicheskiy podkhod [Russian gender order: the sociological approach] / Zdravomyslova E., Temkina A. (eds). SPb.: YEUSPb. (In Russ.)
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APA
Mikhaylova, O. R. (2019). Balancing between discourses of pathology and normality: biographical practice of autoaggression. The case of self-harm. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, 11(20), 77-96. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2019.20.4
Section
Field work research
