Youth Reach Out to Aid Those Who Self-Harm
September 10th, 2009 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Headline
The process of delivering self-harm, whether in the form of cutting, burning, abstaining from food, or any number of individual manifestations, can present difficult challenges for young people and their families. Often developed as a way to cope with mental health issues, self-harm occurs in a significant population of adolescents and teens, a fact which prompted some young people who have recovered from the habit to offer their support and experience to others in need. The growing awareness of self-harming and a more diverse network of services and accessible contacts shows promise for helping youths who want to stop harming themselves overcome the compulsion.
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This might be the only way some kids would accept help. Often these kids do not want to reach out or accept help from adults, so having their peers help them may really make a difference.
I have never quite grasped the underlying issue that goes along with one inflicting pain upon herself. I think that I have read that many teens do this because the physical pain is more preferable than the internal and mental pain that they may be going through. Is this the general concensus concerning this phenomenon?
Persons who have been through the ordeal themselves will be in a much better position than anybody else to know how it feels and to be able to help the person who is under going the suffering. Maybe this practice should be encouraged more and more and more youths could be encouraged to come out of the closet and make this partnership useful to each one of them.
It is important for parents of teens to keep a tab on their child’s activities as an unusual behavior is mostly a mask to cover something that is not right. Self-inflicted injuries are very hard to be spotter as many conceal their self-injuries. The only way to catch them is by observing the child’s behavior. Teenagers are very vulnerable to a whole lot of things that can ruin their mental health and parents need to take special care regarding this.
Cutting is so abhorrent to me. Your assessment is my best understanding of it, Bethany. And I use the word ‘understanding’ in the loosest possible terms. I hope they all find the help they need.
My son does this. He doesn’t cut but he can bite his arm so hard he leaves bruises. It’s very upsetting to see. I have asked him why over and over. He says it’s a release when he’s stressed or upset and it’s better than hitting someone when he can’t communicate what he’s feeling properly. It’s common amongst Aspergers Syndrome sufferers to do this apparently. That doesn’t make it any easier to watch though. I suggested punching pillows. When he did it he hit it so hard off the wall it left a hole behind.
I discovered recently a young girl I know is cutting. What to do? I know her mother only as an acquaintance and the child as part of a group of friends my niece goes around with. She’s in my niece’s class. My niece told me about this in confidence and I don’t know what to tell her to do apart from try and talk the girl into stopping.
I found out my nephew was doing this and I had no idea how to approach his parents with the information. I talked to him and he promised he would stop but than he couldn’t do it. We are lucky that we caught it early and got help for him but it was very scary to know that he was intentionally hurting himself. You just have all of the fears that he was going to take this to the next level and do something that was beyond hurting- that suicide may even come up.