ABSTRACT:Self‐destructive behavior is a major clinical problem in psychiatry. A review of the literature reveals the existence of enough clinical data to identify a diagnostic entity, “The Deliberate Self‐Harm Syndrome” (DSH). The authors present a diagnostic formulation of the DSH syndrome (in the DSM‐III format) which consists of four essential clinical features, a group bof associteds features, clinical features, a group of associated features, a clinical course of typical onset in late adolescence, with multiple recurent episodes, with multiple methods of low lethality physical self‐injury, extending over many years. On the basis of relatively exclusive association of clinical signs and symptoms a heuristic clinical entity