The effects of blood in self-injurious cutting: Positive and negative affect regulation.

Objective Seeing one's own blood may be a factor in affect regulation in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). This study examined changes in a negative (NA) and positive affect (PA) in response to a finger prick eliciting a small drop of participants' blood. Methods Two groups (NSSI; N = 56 and Control; N = 70) of undergraduate students were randomly assigned to receive a finger prick and look at blood, receive a finger prick and not look at blood, or receive a sham finger prick. Following a mood induction, participants completed the PANAS three times: Time 1 (pre mood-induction, baseline), Time 2 (post-mood induction), and Time 3 (post-finger prick condition), and a Pain Severity Scale. Results A significant three-way interaction revealed that the NSSI: Blood Group had an increased positive effect between Time 2 and Time 3. Conclusion Blood serves an important function in NSSI and requires additional research to fully understand the relationship.