Abstract: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI, or Self-injury, SI) is an intentional and repeated destruction of one’s own body tissues without suicidal intentions or purposes. SI is very perilous though not always fatal, which is frequently seen among adolescents and young adults compared to older adults. Domestic SI, which is approximately 36%~57%, is much more prevalent than that in any other western countries. Not much is known why people engage in SI. The risky factors for SI include traumatic experiences in childhood and individual vulnerability, such as emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and biological factors. In this review, several explanatory models of SI are discussed, including the functional model, the developmental psychopathological model and the integrated theoretical model. However, more efforts are needed to further investigate the mechanism of SI and other related issues. Future research should also focus on the classification, the affect-regulation function, the inter-disciplinary and cross-cultured study of SI.

Key words: self-injury, non-suicidal self-injury, psychopathological behavior, emotion dysregulation, borderline personality disorder