There are many ways in which people carry out acts that, either in the short or long term, and directly or indirectly, could be potentially dangerous to our integrity.

Self-destructive tendency refers to a whole series of behaviours that are considered harmful for the person who carries them out. It is very often seen in mental disorders, as well as in dysfunctional personality styles.

Let’s take a closer look at the exact definition of this personality construct, as well as its causes and associated disorders.

Self-destructive tendency, what exactly are we referring to?

In a strict sense, self-destructive tendency refers to a series of behaviors that can be harmful, physically, emotionally or psychologically, to the person who carries them out. The behaviours of people with this type of tendency constitute a continuum, that is, there are more serious behaviours and there are less serious ones, but all of them may entail a risk for the integrity of the individual .

One should not confuse ‘self-destructive tendency’ with ‘self-harm’ as if they were synonymous terms. They are not, but the latter could be encompassed within the former. Self-injury, in addition to suicide attempts, is considered to be the behavior of a person who tends to self-destruction, given how clearly his or her physical integrity is impaired.

However, within the label of ‘self-destructive tendencies’ we would refer to a whole set of behaviours that can be deliberate, planned, the product of an impulse or acquired as a habit and carried out automatically . That is, there are self-destructive behaviours that can be more subtle than others.

In any case, these types of tendencies, although they may be shown by a person without any serious psychopathology, have been related to disorders of the schizophrenic type and borderline personality disorder, in addition to having an altered state of mind, as in depression, bipolar disorder or anxiety disorders .

These types of behaviors tend to be on the rise. Sometimes it may seem that the person controls them, or that by engaging in them they feel they have greater control over their associated anxiety. Other times it may seem that those who perform them are just trying to get attention, however, this may be an indication that they require help and are not being given the proper attention and importance.

Forms in which it manifests itself

Depending on how directly related they are to the danger of the person’s life, there are two types of self-destructive behaviour.

On the one hand we have direct self-destructive behaviors, which would occur when the person who tends to this type of acts is performing actions that can end in tragedy, such as suicide attempts or self-harm .

Instead, we refer to indirect self-destructive behavior when it views death or loss of physical or mental integrity as an undesirable effect, even if it is conscious. Examples of this type of behaviour would be smoking or addictions to different substances, which lead the person to a slow death and are included in the parasitic behaviour. The practice of high-risk sports would also be considered indirect self-destructive behaviour.

This type of behaviour is often carried out as if it were a mechanism to cope with the adversities of everyday life , especially when the individual feels overwhelmed by them.

Self-destructive behavior can manifest itself as a mechanism to keep people away. For example, if you are afraid of spoiling the relationship, to avoid being responsible for the end of the relationship, the person with this type of tendency may take actions that encourage the other member of the relationship to leave. Thus, instead of dealing with the fear of the couple breaking up, self-destructive individuals make the other person the first to break up the relationship.

However, in most cases, this type of behavior does not occur in such a far-fetched way. In mental disorders such as eating disorders, that is, anorexia, bulimia and food addiction, alcoholism, various addictions, and borderline personality disorder, these types of behaviors can be observed. Sex addiction is also considered self-destructive, especially when it involves taking risks such as not wearing the appropriate prophylaxis for sexually transmitted diseases.

Possible causes behind this behavior

The possible causes behind the self-destructive tendency can be traced, in most cases, to unhealthy childhood and adolescence. The person who leads to this type of behaviour, especially in the most serious cases such as self-harm and substance addiction, has often experienced sexual or physical abuse during his or her childhood, which has crystallized into the form of trauma that appears in adulthood in the form of dysfunctional behaviour .

This type of tendency can also be associated with personality characteristics, especially in those people who feel very insecure and have little confidence in their strengths, despite having them. These people feel insecure about many aspects of their lives, such as their partner, asking themselves things like ‘how can he love someone like me’ or, being at work or at school, asking themselves “how can I be able to do everything they are asking me to do, if I am not worth anything”.

The degree of objective ability or success that the person has in different areas of his life does not seem to influence the self-destructive tendency. That is to say, there are people who are very good at certain aspects, such as sport or study, who, believing that they do not deserve success or have low self-esteem, boycott themselves .

A determining factor in having a self-destructive personality style is not receiving adequate care from one’s closest environment, whether it be family or friends. There are people who perform self-destructive acts in an attempt to get attention and, at the same time, as a symptom of the psychological problem behind this behavior. Tobacco use, especially among adolescents, may be interpreted as seeking help and receiving attention from their parents.

Is it possible to change it?

As we were saying, there is a diversity of behaviors that fall under the umbrella of “self-destructive tendency”. Smoking is not the same as taking a knife and making deep cuts in your arm. However, regardless of the severity of the self-destructive behavior that the patient is carrying out, the most advisable thing to do in all cases is to go to psychological therapy .

Not all people who engage in this type of behavior are aware of their self-destructive tendency, and sometimes even play it down. Whatever your level of awareness of the problem, it is advisable that your family environment and close loved ones encourage you to go to a professional, be it a psychologist, psychiatrist or doctor, to look into the problem in greater depth and see what the risk to your life is.

Many of these behaviors are due to a psychological problem behind them, which causes discomfort and a high degree of dysfunction in the person’s life. It is advisable to make the person see what is the cause of the situation he is in, how it is possible to improve it and, by means of constancy, start to see the results in the form of improvement.

Bibliographic references:

  • Beck, Aaron T.; Kovacs, Maria; Weissman, Arlene (1979). “Assessment of suicidal intention: The Scale for Suicide Ideation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 47 (2): 343-352. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.47.2.343
  • Nyman, A. K.; Jonsson, H. (1986). “Patterns of self-destructive behaviour in schizophrenia. Scandinavian Psychiatric Act. 73 (3): 252-262. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1986.tb02682.x
  • Lovaas, O.Ivar; Freitag, Gilbert; Gold, Vivian J.; Kassorla, Irene C. (1965). “Experimental studies in childhood schizophrenia: Analysis of self-destructive behavior”. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2: 67-84. doi:10.1016/0022-0965(65)90016-0
  • van der Kolk, Bessel (December 1991). “Childhood Origins of Self-Destructive Behavior”. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 12: 1665–1671.