Independent research proposal prepared August 27, 2026. This is a portfolio research concept, not an approved human-subjects protocol, diagnostic standard, or clinical guidance.
The proposal asks whether some self-injury after mistakes may be driven by the belief that pain improves learning, accountability, memory, or behavioral control. It defines a provisional construct and lays out a staged program beginning with adult retrospective research, followed by measurement development, prospective work, a pain-free mechanism study, and intervention development.
The document presents proposed studies, not findings. It separates the hypothesized function from emotion regulation, sensory reinforcement, communication difficulty, sleep phenomena, medical causes, trauma, psychosis, and suicidal intent. Younger children appear only in a separate clinically embedded observational pathway.