Although veterans with PTSD were specifically targeted because : 
- NSSI is substantially underreported among veterans  
- Veterans seeking treatment for PTSD have particularly high rates of NSSI
Researchers found diagnoses of NSSID to be unrelated to PTSD

Likewise, NSSID was also unrelated to:
- The majority of anxiety disorders
- Substance use disorders
- Eating disorders 

However, they did find that veterans who were diagnosed with: 
- Depression
- OCD
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Cannabis use disorder
Met more criteria for NSSID

Connection Between NSSID & Other Illnesses

- Veterans with NSSID met criteria for a significantly greater number of disorders than veterans with other psychiatric disorders
- On average, veterans with NSSID met full diagnostic criteria for five
psychiatric disorders over the course of their lifetimes
- Each additional disorder more than doubled participants’ odds
of meeting criteria for NSSID

Pre-Existing Psychiatric Disorders & NSSID

- Researchers found that borderline personality disorder was the psychiatric diagnosis most strongly associated with NSSID at both the bivariate and
multivariate level

BPD & NSSID

- Veterans may be prone to engage in repetitive behaviors meant to reduce distress and gain control over their environment (such as NSSI) due to military training learning histories and/or comorbid disorders associated with increased need for control and decreased tolerance for unpleasant emotions


OCD & NSSID

1. Pre-existing psychiatric conditions and diagnosis of NSSID
2. Association between NSSID & other psychiatric conditions
3. BPD & NSSID

Saint Louis University

In 2018, researchers reported that 82% of veterans seeking treatment for PTSD
(96% of whom were men) reported a lifetime history of engaging in NSSI. Furthermore, nearly two in three (64%) reported that they had engaged in one or more forms of NSSI during the past two weeks.

Prevalence of NSSID Among Veterans 

Patel, T. A., Mann, A., Blakey, S. M., Aunon, F. M., Calhoun, P. S., Beckham, J. C., & Kimbrel, N. A. (2021). Diagnostic Correlates of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder among Veterans with Psychiatric Disorders. Psychiatry research, 296, 113672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113672


Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Veterans with Psychiatric Disorders

The CANDI is a diagnostic interview for NSSID that has demonstrated good reliability and adequate internal consistency in prior research 

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