Understanding the Temporal Dynamics of Self-Harm Through Dynamical Connectionist Theory: A Foundational Theory About Human Behaviour

Abstract

Present literature on self-harm (SH) operates under the assumption that there are no temporal effects in SH behaviour which is inconsistent with dynamical connectionist theory (DCT). In this paper, we outline the DCT in detail and – using its theoretical postulates - hypothesised that SH behaviour was likely to follow more SH behaviour, that thoughts about SH predispose to SH behaviour (and vice versa), and that engaging in SH behaviour would reduce the incidence of other behaviours later. We used data from a single patient in clinical care (N = 1) which was collected on a daily basis as part of the treatment for SH and aggression. Each day, the patient reported whether she had engaged in SH, aggression, and other behaviours of interest. Recurrence Quantification Analyses and tests of proportions were conducted to assess whether patterns in our timeseries were statistically unlikely compared to a random distribution of the same timeseries (i.e. with no temporal dynamics). We found that SH was significantly associated with more SH later, that thoughts about SH were significantly more often succeeded by SH behaviour (and vice versa), and that the presence of SH was significantly associated with reductions in other behaviours one day later and vice versa. Finally, we were able to predict SH occurrence prospectively based on a 7-day window, provided the dataset was complete. We conclude the empirical findings support the DCT account and encourage broader application beyond SH. Keywords: Dynamics of Complex Systems, Self-Harm, Dynamical Connectionism, Aggression, Theory