Chicken & egg

Poorer body regard and negative emotions can lead to self-harm - but which comes first?

The New Zealand Psychological Society is hosting two web workshops on nonsuicidal self-injury when someone causes direct damage to their body that isn't socially sanctioned (think cutting or burning rather than tattoos or piercings) but without suicidal intent.

Since 2012, I've got to know the presenter of these workshops, Barent Walsh, during a yearly conference catch-up. Barry claims to have been retired for a few years now, but is still executive director emeritus and senior clinical consultant at Open Sky Community Services in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a psychiatry lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

Barry and I caught up on Zoom in early June to prep for his first workshop. We'd both written down the right time, but my Zoom invite was out by half an hour, which meant that, rather than talking to me online, Barry was in his garden when a black bear lumbered in and pushed over his bird feeder. I think it's exciting when we get the occasional hedgehog in our yard.