Daily Archive for June 19th, 2006

Sheila Crowell, a doctoral student at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA; US), and several colleagues have found that “cutting,” a parasuicidal behavior that has been much in the news lately, may have biological markers, according to a press release written by Joel Schwarz.

University of Washington psychologists have discovered that adolescent girls who engage in behaviors such as cutting themselves have lower levels of serotonin, a hormone and brain chemical, in their blood. They also have reduced levels in the parasympathetic nervous system of what is called respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a measure of the ebb and flow of heart rate along with breathing.

Link to Mr. Schwarz’s story.