واکاوی مؤلفه‌های شخصیتی افراد دارای رفتارهای خودتخریب‌گرانه

کیمیا شریفیان; حسام غفاریان; یگانه عزیزیان

Authors

Kimiya Sharifian Department of Cognitive Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Author
Hesam Ghaffarian Department of Family Counseling, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.
Yeganeh Azizian Department of Educational Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Author

Keywords:

self-destructive behaviors, personality components, emotional instability, impulsivity, shame, thematic analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the personality components of individuals with self-destructive behaviors, with particular attention to emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal patterns that maintain such behaviors. This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The participants were 21 individuals aged 18 to 35 years living in Tehran who reported repeated experiences of self-destructive behaviors at psychological, relational, or behavioral levels. Purposeful sampling was used to ensure variation in gender, age, marital status, and educational level, and recruitment continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were collected only through individual semi-structured interviews. Each interview lasted between 45 and 75 minutes. After obtaining informed consent, the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and prepared for analysis. Data were analyzed using NVivo software and the six phases of thematic analysis, including familiarization with the data, initial coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the final report. Data analysis led to the identification of five main categories: emotional instability and negative urgency, fragile self-worth and self-punitive shame, impulsivity and poor behavioral inhibition, insecure attachment and rejection sensitivity, and cognitive self-sabotage based on failure-oriented beliefs. Participants described self-destructive behaviors not merely as conscious choices, but as rapid, emotion-driven, and sometimes self-punitive responses to psychological pressure, feelings of worthlessness, fear of abandonment, and difficulties in emotion regulation. The findings indicated that self-destructive behaviors among the participants emerged from the interaction of several personality and psychological components. Emotional instability, chronic shame, impulsivity, interpersonal sensitivity, and failure-oriented schemas played central roles in the formation and maintenance of these patterns. Therefore, effective psychological interventions should go beyond behavioral suppression and focus on emotion regulation, reconstruction of self-worth, shame reduction, distress tolerance, and modification of insecure interpersonal patterns.

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