Is Self-Injury impulsive?
The question of the impulsivity of your self-injury is an important one. SI acts that are impulsive are more difficult to control. On the other hand, SI acts that take more planning and premeditation are easier to manage or control. Therefore, you are more likely to be able to control SI behaviors that are not impulsive. The degree of impulsivity associated with self-injury in general is difficult to determine. Researchers studying this phenomenon have presented contradictory results, sometimes finding that SI relates to impulsivity and sometimes finding that it does not. It appears that SI and impulsivity have a complex, variable, unpredictable relationship. Sometimes it can vary depending on the situation. In some situation you may feel the urge to hurt yourself but may find yourself in a situation where it wouldn’t be ‘safe’ to do so. So you may postpone your act of SI for later. This is planned. But also if you SI-ed at the time you felt the need to do so it might be considered imp
