"I thought that crying was weakness": a thematic analysis of emotional experience in an online self-harm forum.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the emotional experiences and beliefs of individuals who engage in self-harm by analyzing data from an online self-harm forum. Emphasis was placed on understanding how these individuals describe and evaluate their emotions (emotion beliefs) and the role these beliefs play in their emotion regulation and self-harming behaviors.

Method: A total of 119 posts from a self-harm discussion board on the forum were analyzed.