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PurposeWhat is happening in the perceived world of young people who have non-suicidal self-injury? The answer to this question explains many quantitative research findings in the field of NSSI. The current qualitative research design is Husserl's descriptive phenomenology.Design/methodology/approachThe participants included 17–29-year-old youths with self-injury and were selected with a targeted sampling approach and a conspicuous sampling method based on the theoretical saturation criterion of 21 people. Data were collected in a semi-structured interview and analyzed in the MAXQDA2022 software using the Attride-Stirling (2001) method. Validation of data was done by the method of simultaneous review of colleagues and simultaneous review of participants.FindingsThe themes emerging from the analysis of the findings are the three organizing themes of "vulnerable temperament" which includes height and head, high pain sensitivity threshold and desire for nothingness, "traumatic family" which includes disorganization, crisis and devaluation in the family and "developmental injuries" that are associated with physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. The content of these themes seriously harms a person's self-perception through the emotions of fear, shame, anger and despair and is integrated into the overarching theme of "damaged self".Originality/value"Damaged Self" provides causal explanations related to the formation of self-injurious behaviors and these behaviors are in harmony with the damage that a person observes in his perception of himself.