According to Morgen in Chapter 3, why should NSSI be considered a process addiction?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Both report a constant daily thinking about substance use or NSSI.
Both report a heightened frequency and/or intensity of these thoughts when experiencing life stressors and/or co-occurring psychiatric disorder symptom flare-ups. After excessively using the substance or NSSI for years, they both have reported a tolerance effect. The NSSI clients have discussed not getting the same “relief” or “control” from the acts that they used to achieve. This causes them frustration as their principal coping skill is deteriorating. These experiences of NSSI clients sound similar to the affect regulation function of NSSI discussed by some (e.g., Brain, Haines, & Williams, 2002). Buser and Buser (2013) agreed. They provided a comprehensive review of the NSSI literature and concluded that NSSI entails issues of compulsion, loss of control, continued use despite negative consequences, and the development of tolerance, which are all indicative of an addiction. Morgen also noted that Zetterqvist (2015) reviewed numerous studies and demonstrated the high rates of various cooccurring disorders within the NSSI population such as anxiety, mood, substance use, and eating disorders as well as symptoms of emotional dysregulation and heightened general psychiatric distress. In NSSI, the client is primarily engaged in negative reinforcement. The NSSI addiction is not perpetuated to induce a euphoric feeling as much as it is to use that euphoric feeling as a way to (temporarily) reduce the negative affect and/or mood they are experiencing. NSSI addicted individuals do not so much chase the “high” as they instead perpetually return to their coping skill (i.e., the addiction) to escape the hurt.