Journal of International Psychiatry

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics of non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors and their related factors in adolescent patients with depressive disorders. METHODS: A total of 131 outpatients and inpatients who met the diagnostic criteria of adolescent depressive disorder in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders in a psychiatric hospital in Anhui Province were included and the assessment was conducted with the Hamilton Depression Inventory, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Questionnaire. RESULTS: 1) Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors accounted for 69.5% of the total number of patients with adolescent depressive disorders. The NSSI behaviors in order of frequency were: intentionally strangling oneself, intentionally cutting oneself (e.g., with razor blades, glass, etc.), and intentionally striking a hard object with ones fist; and the functions of the NSSI behaviors were, in order of frequency,: relieving stress or anxiety, coping with sadness or disappointment, and having a desire to hurt oneself and not being able to stop; 2) there were statistically significant differences between the group with NSSI and the group without NSSI in terms of gender, parental marriage, depression scores and childhood trauma (p < 0.05); and 3) there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the NSSI behaviors of the patients with adolescent depressive disorders and the severity of depression, and childhood trauma (r = 0.513, r = 0.356, P < 0.01); 4) Depression severity mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and NSSI behaviors in adolescent depressive disorders. CONCLUSION: Childhood trauma affects the severity of depression in adolescent depressive disorders and thus increases the risk of NSSI behaviors.

【Keywords】: Adolescent depressive disorder; Non-suicidal self-injury; Childhood trauma; Depression severity