Question
What is self-directed violence?
Answer
Self-directed violence or SDV is another term that is commonly used among mental health professionals, that describes a range of violent behaviors, including acts of fatal and non-fatal suicidal behavior and non-suicidal intentional harm.
An example of self-directed violence might be cutting. This where you have an individual who feels numb or describes a feeling of numbness, and they just want to feel something again, and so they cut themselves.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Suicide Awareness, Assessment, and Intervention for Allied Health Professionals, Module 5presented by Nika Ball, MOT, OTR/L, ATP and Angela Moss, PhD RN, APRN-BC
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