Autolesività non suicidaria e genere: rassegna teorica e riflessioni psicodinamiche

Theoretical background: Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is a particularly relevant phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. Its onset is more frequent during first adolescence, paralleling puberal changes and their well known implications both for boys and girls. Objective: Our review focuses on the role of gender differences in NSSI, with a peculiar emphasis on the relation among biological events, imaginary configurations and psychopathological organizations. Method: We reviewed pertinent scientific literature consulting the data-base PubMed, PsychINFO, ScienceDirect and others national and international sources. We reviewed literature using “gender” as key word, first in terms of variable taken into account in the studies, then with special reference to psychodynamic models. Critical discussion and conclusions: Our revision shows the difficulties of analyzing existing data on the prevalence of NSSI. In fact we found gender differences with respect to modalities of non-suicidal self-injury, injured parts of the body, and the psychological meanings related to acts of NSSI. Finally, we propose some psychodynamic considerations on the relationship between gender and identity, which we think may be useful to deepen some specific aspects of NSSI in adolescence, such as the different modalities of acting and the question of female masochism as defense mechanism.