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Tattooing as a means of acute affect regulation
Author(s) -
Anderson Michael,
Sansone Randy A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.374
Subject(s) - feeling , affect (linguistics) , harm , psychology , function (biology) , variety (cybernetics) , sense of control , affect regulation , social psychology , developmental psychology , communication , attachment theory , evolutionary biology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
In this report, we describe the case of a 19‐year‐old male who acutely used the process of tattooing, and its associated physical pain, to regulate negative affective states. While tattooing has been described in the literature as serving individuals in a variety of ways (e.g. establishing a sense of individuality, externalizing important feelings), we are unaware of any prior case reports describing this affective function. Indeed, in this case, tattooing may have functioned more like self‐harm behaviour, and we discuss this potential implication. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.