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Anna von Tunzelmann image

BBC (Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications) Journalism, New Zealand Broadcasting School
BA (Hons) Psychology (1st), Massey University
PhD Student, Suicide and Mental Health Research Group

Contact details

Email vonan077@student.otago.ac.nz

Supervisors

  • Research Associate Professor Gabrielle Jenkin, Director of the Suicide and Mental Health Research Group
  • Dr Emily Cooney, Senior Lecturer Clinical Psychology
  • Dr Sarah McKenzie, Senior Research Fellow

Thesis Topic

Experiences of Binge-Drinking as an Act of Deliberate Self-Harm

Project Summary

Young people aged 18–29 years old is the demographic most likely to experience harm from hazardous drinking and to be hospitalised for self-injurious behaviour. Although poisoning is the leading cause of self-harm hospitalisation in Australia and New Zealand, alcohol intoxication is not widely recognised as a mode of intentional self-poisoning. Focused on the lived experience of emerging adults, this research investigates participants' understanding of using alcohol as vehicle for self-harm.

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), 8 -10 participants will be interviewed about intentionally seeking harm through incidents of hazardous drinking. Each account will be individually explored as a case study and interpreted in depth before cross-case analysis will examine convergence and divergence within the cohort.

This research aims to span the distance between current conceptualisations of binge-drinking and self-harm within mental health practice and the lived experience of emerging adults. It is hoped a richer understanding of binge-drinking as a mode of deliberate self-harm will inform pragmatic applications within therapeutic settings.

Publications

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