Abstract
In recent years there has been an increase in awareness that self-harm occurs in men, especially in young men in their early teens to mid twenties, and that it seems to be increasing. This article presents findings from a qualitative study in which nine therapists were interviewed as key informants about their experiences and perceptions of working with young men who self-harm. Transcripts were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The resultant themes focussed on a variety of risk factors involved in the development and maintenance of self-harm in young men. Many were non-gender specific except for the role of masculinity and male identity in terms of hegemonic expectations. Other domains included the conceptualisation of self-harm; relationship with self; factors in the therapeutic process and challenges that the therapists experienced. The study may be seen as further raising awareness of self-harm in young men and potentially informing effective therapeutic interventions. However, future research would need to include the views of self-harming young men themselves to discern the extent to which these are accurately reflected in the accounts of the therapists as key-informants due to possible biases the therapists may have had.