Behavioral Contagion Reconsidered: Self-Harm Among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients: A Five-Year Study

This study examined behavioural contagion among inpatient adolescent psychiatric patients in terms of past self-harm behaviours. The goal was to isolate persistent self-harm behaviour from self-harm behaviour that could be considered truly contagious. 5 years of retrospective cohort study data was analysed. Results indicate the spontaneous occurrence of self-harm among inpatients without a history of self-harm is very low. It is concluded contagious self-harm does not appear to be a problem among inpatients with long stays on psychiatric treatment units. The overall tendency, especially among patients with histories of self-harm behaviour, is away from self-harming behaviour. (7 refs.)