Physicians can facilitate such discussions by doing the following: Validating the patient's experience by communicating that they have heard the patient and take the patient's experiences seriously Understanding the patient's emotions (eg, confirming that the patient's emotions and actions are understandable in light of the patient's circumstances) Assessment of nonsuicidal self-injury should include the following: Determining what type of self-injury and how many types of self-injury the patient has inflicted Determining how often nonsuicidal self-injury occurs and how long it has been occurring Determining the function of nonsuicidal self-injury for the patient Checking for coexisting psychiatric disorders Estimating the risk of a suicide attempt Determining how willing the patient is to participate in treatment Treatment of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Sometimes certain forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy Treatment of coexisting disorders The following cognitive-behavioral therapies may be useful for treating nonsuicidal self-injury: Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) Emotion-regulation group therapy (ERGT) DBT involves individual and group therapy for 1 year.