Hurting Soul, Hurting Body

Hurting Soul, Hurting Body

She draws a razor blade across her leg until it bleeds to relieve her guilt and anger. He burns his wrist to feel alive. While these are hypothetical situations, some people do this every day. These are acts of self-mutilation, commonly referred to as self-injury or self-harm. 13 to 23 percent of teenagers intentionally caused themselves pain in the United States alone (Self-Mutilation [Cutting]). The issue of self harm affects teenagers in America, and parents do not always understand; however, this issue can be solved by informing people on this problem and how to recognize it occurring, stopping the pro-self harm videos, blogs, websites, and forums, and promoting help through the internet.

Most parents, upon finding out their child cuts or self harms in another way, react naturally – with horror. However, they may be angry and think that their child self harms because they want to be noticed, or want people to feel sorry for them. While this happens occasionally, most teens that self harm are not attention seekers, but rather keep their behavior secret for months or even years (Parks). Many teens make desperate excuses to hide their behavior, such as someone going by the user-name “kathryn16” posted on an experienceproject.com forum titled “I am a cutter: what are some of the excuses you have used?”, “Either walked past sharp corner on a coffee table or fell onto or brushed past a rose bush which explains why there are so many cuts. More often then not i cut in the same direction so it does look like i could have scraped along something.” Teens who self-harm are not trying to commit suicide, but rather “self-injury is really a desperate effort to stay alive” (Current Health Teens: Student Edition). There are both emotional and physical reasons that teens injure themselves. They may injure themselves to feel in control, to express emotions like anger or sadness, to feel alive, to feel numb, to relieve guilt, or because they feel worthless (Parks). They may have gone through “severe abuse as a child” (Spiratos), or are perhaps currently being abused. On the experienceproject.com forum titled “I am a cutter: What Kind Of Things Make You Want To Cut”, a person going by the user-name “Familiaexantexceteros” explained what triggers her through this post:

“I cut myself when I have extreme levels of anxiety . . . The anxiety that comes from this brings me to a point of feeling irrational and insane. . . I then turn to physical pain in order to cover up my emotional pain. I cut in order to see the blood and feel the pain to know that THIS is real. After I watch the blood for a few moments I feel relieved almost as if the anxiety never happened . . . I wish I had constructive ways to deal with anxiety but that's the one thing I just can't handle . . . It really does feel good afterward. I know at the exact moment I'm doing it that it's wrong and I'm only hurting MYSELF but it makes me feel better. Plain and simple. . .”

The physical aspect of self-injury is the endorphins released in the brain to relieve pain. They bring the self-harmer a natural high; this can become addictive. The longer a teenager injures themselves, the more often they self-harm (Styer 10-12).

There are many methods of self harm; some are obvious, but others are less glaring. When most people think of self injury, they think of cutting. People who self injure are even referred to as cutters. However, there are many forms of harming oneself. Other obvious ways include burning, scratching, bruising/hitting, even breaking bones (Self-Mutilation [Cutting]). While breaking bones may seem more severe than cutting, and cutting or burning may seem more severe than scratching, all are serious. Cutting/burning may leave scars, and the self harm may become more severe over time (Kowalski 20). Subtler methods include abuse of drugs/alcohol, staying in an unhealthy relationship, or taking risks. These behaviors are less recognizable as deliberate self harm because many who engage in them may be alcoholics, too scared to leave the relationship, or just be trying to prove something/not thinking.

The internet is a large influence on many teenagers. They may reach out for support on the internet. It allows them to know they are not alone. However, rather than providing healthy support and encouraging others to get help, many on the web choose to promote self harm, or give these teenagers advice on how to carry out and/or hide their behaviors. On the teenhut.net forum labeled “Depression Self Harm Suicide: I am going to kill myself so goodbye”, the former user “The EatingWhiskey” posted this in response to a suicide threat: “Alright girl goodbye! Have a nice afterlife maybe it’ll be better than this life”. This was not outwardly hostile, and the user was promptly banned from the site, but the post is still up on the website, able to be read by anyone. There are supervisors of online forums in place, but they are not able to monitor everything that goes on, and offending or pro-self harm comments are not taken down quickly enough, if they are taken down at all. The forum experienceproject.com has notices in place at the top of pages about self-harm listing that there is possibly offensive content on this page, as well as numbers a visitor should call if they are in crisis. The blogging site “Tumblr” has recently banned pro-self harm blogs and comments. While these are both steps in the right direction, it is not guaranteed users will heed the warnings at the top of the page. More needs to be done.

Since there are already moderators helping to operate these forums, posts should have to be approved before being seen by anyone else. This will prevent offending and pro-self harm or pro-suicide comments from potentially affecting any users. While this will not prevent negativity in the chat rooms, that can be helped by anyone who tries to post harmful messages on forums being banned (at least for a period of time) from the chat rooms.

People should be informed on self-harm and how to recognize it occurring. This can be done using the internet. If someone is knowledgeable about the issue (perhaps they are a recovered self-harmer) they can start a website, YouTube channel, or blog on what self-injury is, its signs, and how it can be overcome. Signs of someone harming themselves are that they “wear wristbands . . . or consistently wear long pants or long-sleeved shirts” (Galley). Other warning signs are that they constantly avoid “activities like swimming” (Brody) or are scratched by their cat often. If people know what self-mutilation is, they can better recognize it if their friends or family starts to engage in self-harm. Since so many people are already using the internet and spending hours every day on blogs and social-networking sites like Facebook, the web can be used to educate people on this issue.

Self-injury is an illness, not a sick attempt at gaining attention. It is addictive, but can be overcome. Parents, counselors, and teenagers themselves need to be educated on what self injury is, how to recognize it, what causes it, and how to talk to someone they are concerned about. Parents and friends need to try to be understanding and non-confrontational when talking to a loved one about self-injury, or else they can become defensive and feel like they are being attacked, which only make the problem worse. Efforts need to be made to stop the abuse of the internet by pro-self injurers and to start using the web as an effective tool to help people overcome this problem. If enough people use social-networking, blogs, and videos to spread encouragement to teens who harm themselves, it could save someone's life. They may put down their knife or stop hitting themselves and call a friend. Because even if that teenager does not set out to commit suicide, accidental deaths occur as a result of self-harm every year. Teenagers who self-injure should not be judged, because no one knows if one of those sufferers could be someone close to them.



Works Cited

Brody, Jane. "The Growing Wave of Teenage Self-Injury." New York Times 06 May 2008, n. pag. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/health/06brod.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq="self harm"&st=cse>.

Galley, Michelle. "Student Self-Harm: Silent School Crisis." Education Week Vol. 23, No. 14. Dec. 3 2003: 1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Mar 2012.

"Hurts So Bad." Current Health Teens: Student Edition Dec 2004. n.pag. NetTrekker. Web. 29 Mar 2012.

Kowalski, Kathiann. "Hurting to Feel Better." Current Health 31.2 Oct 2007. 20. SIRS. Web. 21 Mar 2012.

Parks, Peggy. Self-Injury Disorder. San Diego: Reference Point Press Inc, 2011. Print.

"Self-Mutilation (Cutting)." Teen Health and Wellness. Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012 <http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/294/self-mutilation-cutting>

Spiratos, Anastasia. "When Private Wounds Bleed: Teens Coping by Cutting Themselves." Counseling Today May 2003. n.pag. SIRS. Web. 14 Mar 2012. <http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SSFUL-0-5678&artno=0000170267&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=self harm&title=When Private Wounds Bleed: Teens Coping by Cutting Themselves&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=Y&ic=N>.

Styer, Denise. "An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide." Prevention Researcher 13. Dec 2006. 10-12. SIRS. Web. 14 Mar 2012. <http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SSFUL-0-5678&artno=0000256783&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=self harm&title=An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide&res=Y&ren=N&gov=N&lnk=Y&ic=N>.

"What Are Some Excuses You Have Used." 07 Oct 2011. Experience Project, Online Posting to I Am a Cutter. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Am-A- Cutter/forum/What-Are-Some-Excuses-You-Have-Used/44975>.

"What Kind of Things Make You Want To Cut." 25 Dec 2009. Experience Project, Online Posting to I Am a Cutter. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Am-A- Cutter/forum/What-Kind-Of-Things-Make- You-Want-To-Cut/23038>.