Beyond the scars: current understanding of risk factors, neurobiological mechanisms and effective interventions for non-suicidal self-injury in young adults.
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari d'Igualada (Consorci Sanitari de l'Anoia), Fundació Sanitària d'Igualada, Barcelona, Spain.
- 2Department of Psychiatry, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica- Sant Pau (IIB-SANT PAU), Barcelona, Spain.
- 3Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain.
- 4Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
- 5Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. [email protected].
- 6Mental Health and Psychiatry Department, Consorci Hospitalari de Vic, Institut de Recerca i Innovació en Ciències de la Vida i de la Salut a la Catalunya Central (IRIS-CC), Universitat de Vic, Barcelona, Spain. [email protected].
Abstract
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is highly prevalent in adolescents and young adults. However, NSSI in young adulthood remains understudied despite this developmental stage is characterized by increading life demands, social transitions, and ongoing brain maturation. This manuscript synthesizes current evidence on risk factors, neurobiology, and treatments for NSSI in emerging adults. Emotional dysregulation, rumination and impulsivity emerge as core individual vulnerabilities, often interacting with adverse childhood experiences and interpersonal stressors. Conversely, perceived social support and metacognitive capacity serve as protective factors. Neurobiological findings, although limited, implicate genetic and epigenetic alongside structural and functional brain abnormalities. Neuroimaging studies reveal that young adults with NSSI exhibit intact nocioceptive encoding but attenuated affective pain responses, together with abnormal recruitment of striatal-midbrin reward pathways. Furthermore, evidence indicates disrupted frontolimbic connectivity underlying emotion regulation deficits and altered self-other processing within medial prefrontal and temporoparietal networks. Treatment research focused on young adults is limited. The Treatment for Sel-Injurious Behaviors (T-SIB) represents the only age-specific intervention with preliminary efficacy evidence. Future research should prioritize young adult samples to clarify the neurobiological mechanisms of NSSI in this critical developmental period and to develop more accessible and effective interventions.
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BibTeX
@article{vega2026beyond,
title = {{Beyond the scars: current understanding of risk factors, neurobiological mechanisms and effective interventions for non-suicidal self-injury in young adults.}},
author = {Daniel Vega and Joaquim Soler and Carlos Schmidt and Juan C Pascual},
journal = {Translational psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1038/s41398-026-04309-7},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42971987},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Beyond the scars: current understanding of risk factors, neurobiological mechanisms and effective interventions for non-suicidal self-injury in young adults.
AU - Daniel Vega
AU - Joaquim Soler
AU - Carlos Schmidt
AU - Juan C Pascual
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/05
JO - Translational psychiatry
DO - 10.1038/s41398-026-04309-7
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42971987
AB - Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is highly prevalent in adolescents and young adults. However, NSSI in young adulthood remains understudied despite this developmental stage is characterized by increading life demands, social transitions, and ongoing brain maturation. This manuscript synthesizes current evidence on risk factors, neurobiology, and treatments for NSSI in emerging adults. Emotional dysregulation, rumination and impulsivity emerge as core individual vulnerabilities, often interacting with adverse childhood experiences and interpersonal stressors. Conversely, perceived social support and metacognitive capacity serve as protective factors. Neurobiological findings, although limited, implicate genetic and epigenetic alongside structural and functional brain abnormalities. Neuroimaging studies reveal that young adults with NSSI exhibit intact nocioceptive encoding but attenuated affective pain responses, together with abnormal recruitment of striatal-midbrin reward pathways. Furthermore, evidence indicates disrupted frontolimbic connectivity underlying emotion regulation deficits and altered self-other processing within medial prefrontal and temporoparietal networks. Treatment research focused on young adults is limited. The Treatment for Sel-Injurious Behaviors (T-SIB) represents the only age-specific intervention with preliminary efficacy evidence. Future research should prioritize young adult samples to clarify the neurobiological mechanisms of NSSI in this critical developmental period and to develop more accessible and effective interventions.
SN - 2158-3188
ER -