Psychobiological response to pain in female adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury

Compared with controls, individuals engaging in NSSI show psychological benefits in response to pain. Biological findings highlight decreased physiologic arousal before and prolonged arousal (ANS and HPA axis response) after painful stimulation in adolescents engaging in NSSI. Greater pain-inflicted autonomic arousal and cortisol secretion may counteract dissociative states, reduce negative affect and increase body awareness in adolescents engaging in NSSI, lending support for a neurobiological pathomechanism underlying the intraindividual and antisuicide functions of NSSI.