Review of studies of non-suicidal forms of self-injury on NSSI scales and questionnaires

During the last decade, there has been an increased interest among foreign studies to the problem of non-suicidal selfinjury (NSSI). The article presents the data on this phenomenon in clinical populations, the results of screening studies among adolescents and adults, as well as meta-analytical works. The aim of the article: a review of foreign researches on the diagnostics of non-suicidal forms of self-injury. Research methods: a comprehensive search for works in English in the databases PsycINFO, PubMed, SciELO published in 2006-2019 with keywords: non-suicidal self-injury, self-harming behavior, NSSI, auto-aggression, auto-aggressive behavior. Results: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the deliberate infliction to physically harm one’s body that is not associated with fatal outcome, is socially unacceptable and is implemented in order to reduce or cope with psychological discomfort. These disorders are more often registered between the ages of 12 and 15. The prevalence among adolescents is 15.9-20.5%, among adults - 2.5-5.4%. The relationship between NSSI and suicidal activity was evaluated. It is shown that the risk of suicide in the first year after self-harm can be 66 (!) times higher than the annual risk among the general population, the risk of suicide 5, 10 and 15 years after self-harm reaches 1.7% , 2.4% and 3, 0% respectively. This determines the importance of developing and using validated diagnostic algorithms. Currently, foreign countries are actively searching for these universal tools, attempts are being made to standardize and adapt previously proposed methods. According to many studies, ABUSI and ISSIQ-A self-injury scales received the highest positive ratings. All foreign questionnaires for the analysis of NSSI are based on the DSM-5 criteria, but have heterogeneous psychometric properties and sensitivity to diagnostics. Researchers come to the conclusion that there is insufficient data on the psychometric properties of tools that evaluate self-injury among adolescents and adults in both general and clinical populations, which justifies the conduct of wider studies. In Russia, data on the prevalence, as well as the use of diagnostic algorithms of the NSSI, are very limited, which confirms the particular relevance of this topic and the need for its development.