The basis causes of self-destructive habits can range from individual to individual, based on licensed drug and alcohol counselor Candace Kotkin-De Carvalho LSW, LCADC, CCS, CCTP. Among the most typical causes embody an absence of constructive coping abilities, unresolved points from childhood or adolescence, and poor psychological well being.
Lorz describes self-destructive behaviors as being the product of both misguided makes an attempt at self-protection or moments of dissociation. They’re usually formed by beliefs you will have about your self, what you deserve, and the way you will have taken within the messages of the world and people round you, she says, making them basically a response to private circumstances which have had a traumatic affect on you. They could have even labored (otherwise you believed that they’ve labored) previously to guard you from feeling burdened, overwhelmed, harm, exhausted, scared, or at risk, she provides, however in the end these coping mechanisms at the moment are inflicting extra hurt than safety.
Osibodu-Onyali provides that when individuals have skilled a number of unfavorable occasions and even traumas, it modifications the best way they view themselves, others, and the world. “They start to count on dangerous issues to occur, and when good issues come their means, they introduce self-destructive behaviors in order that issues return to the unfavorable sample they’re used to. It isn’t that they get pleasure from negativity; it is simply that it is acquainted,” she says.
Moreover, self-destructive behaviors might be signs of many psychological well being points, based on Manly. For instance, an individual who’s affected by melancholy could have interaction in self-protective behaviors, like not going to work on account of an absence of vitality or to keep away from stress, which can be in the end self-destructive. Those that endure from substance use problems could resort to self-destructive behaviors, together with stealing to keep up the habit or driving whereas below the affect, with little or no means to genuinely respect the long-term affect; the cumulative results of those behaviors are sometimes tragic.
“Quite a lot of psychological well being problems similar to BPD usually depart the sufferer caught in a cycle of self-destructive behaviors that depart the person feeling indignant, remoted, and misunderstood,” she provides.