Manage Self Harm

Warning signs for self-mutilation can be wearing covering clothing when it is warm out, and not letting people touch where they might be cutting themselves. It was once believed that people who self injure were just doing it for attention but recent studies have proven otherwise. A quote from the research from the CASE study in Europe stated that “The findings of this study show that adolescents who deliberately self-harm often report both cry of pain and cry for help motives. The majority of youngsters wanted to get relief from a terrible state of mind and/ or wanted to die with their act of self-harm. Although the study shows that there is also a cry for help, this type of motive seems to be less prominent than the cry of pain, which is inconsistent with the popular notion that adolescents deliberate self-harm is ‘only’ a cry for help (Scoliers, 2009). With this knowledge we need to make sure we help the children who are not only doing it to

Sometimes life can feel like it’s suffocating you. You can feel yourself getting pulled down into the abyss. The weight of the world Crushing you and forcing all the air out of your lungs. You can feel alone in the dark water. That is how it feels on the inside. On the outside things are seen so much differently. Some people are seen as happy and smiling while others seem ‘ normal’. However there are some that seem fake. This is how people dealing with self harm feel.

&Donovick (2005) discuss how approximately 30% of all offenders have engaged in some form of self-harm behaviour during the course of their incarceration. While some articles discuss how they are in fact one and the same and have the influence to impact each other, other articles depict self-harm and suicide to be mutually exclusive. This is evident when the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse (2006) states, “Research suggests that self-harm and suicide attempts have different intents, etiologies, bodily harms, frequency and methods. Suicidal acts are oriented toward ending pain and suffering through the end of life, while self-harm is viewed as a method of coping” (p. 2, 2006). They additionally share that some studies show an increase in suicide rates in those who have been subject to self-harming behaviours (2006). For this reason, knowing the triggering factors that could potentially lead to suicide is imperative.

Adults who work in an education based setting sometimes feel uncomfortable dealing with young teens who self harm. Whether this is because of personal reasons or ignorance, self harm is a common subject in schools. When interviewed for an artical, one teacher said that she, “couldn’t deal with the emotional aspect, and couldn’t think of any reason why someone would want to physically harm themselves.” Another teacher, at the same school, stated that he “hadn’t had the experience or training necessary to help the child. This appeared to make the child uncomfortable and regret asking for help." Should asking for help really be such a difficult task? Schools have classes designed to educate teens about how to grow up and take charge, and deal with problems; staff should have the option to take similar classes. If self harm was discussed more in these classes, and appropriate coping methods were taught, there would be less of a problem in schools. Medical officials have much of the same experiences as educators. While they are certified to clean and help with the healing of a self inflicted wound, they have no mandatory obligation to help the patient. Some hospitals have reported that medical staff feels that the patient “deserves to feel the pain” as they purposely harmed themselves. Nurses will use little or no anesthesia on the patient, or will treat them last – no matter the severity of the wound. This goes against the Hippocratic

“Self-injury appears to reduce the individual's level of emotional and physiological arousal to a tolerable level, and the internal chaos is temporarily soothed. Thus, the physical injuries may seem a small price to pay to escape from the ‘raging inferno inside’. The reality of the individual’s actions starts to sink in. Shame, guilt, self-disgust or self-hate may rekindle the smouldering embers. Because the underlying issues remain locked up inside and unresolved, the cycle continues unless change is effected.”

Self-harm, or parasuicide, is a deliberate injury inflicted upon oneself. Unfortunately, it is an issue primarily found in the younger population. Since it is difficult to clinically follow-up these cohorts due to their chaotic nature and constant geographic mobility (Sinclair, Hawton & Gray, p. 247), the long-term consequences of an episode of self-harm are not well-known. In this paper, I will summarize the findings of researchers Sinclair, Hawton and Gray who found that the patients admitted in the hospital due to self-harm, after six years, have significantly higher mortality, higher morbidity and lower quality of life compared to the general population (p. 250). Moreover, I will elaborate my own one-year therapy plan that will be focused on tackling the main issues that contribute to the comorbidity of self-harm: depression and alcohol abuse. Lastly, I will look at another possible treatment involving community reinforcement.

Self-Injury (which occurs when someone cuts or burns or otherwise harms themselves) is one of the harder behaviors associated with mental illness for people to fathom. People mostly understand (I think) when someone becomes psychotic, gets stuck in a deep depression or has mood swings. These are exaggerations of normal states of mind – everyone has felt blue at sometime or another – everyone has felt euphoric or energized at least once. And though loose, psychotic-style thinking is not something that everyone has experienced directly, at least the idea that people can experience hallucinations and delusions is familiar to most.

Whilst self-harm rates in the United Kingdom are amongst the highest in Europe at 4 incidents per every 1,000 individuals (Horrocks & House, 2002), recent statistics demonstrate that rates of self-injury are significantly greater within the incarcerated population, at 278 incidents per every 1,000 inmates for 2014 (Ministry of Justice, 2014). It is consistently acknowledged that incarcerated individuals have an elevated risk of self-injurious behaviour, which has been increasing in the UK; the rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH) by male prisoners have risen by 45% between 2004 and 2010, despite the prison population only increasing by 14.6% (Slade et al, 2012), and DSH amongst female inmates increased by 48% between 2003 and 2007 (Kenning et

Brain injuries are detrimental to the human psyche and if traumatic enough, then it can also be detrimental to daily function. As horrible as it seems “Approximately 75% of traumatic brain injuries seen in emergency departments are mild cases. Annually approximately 70,000 people who have TBI experience permanent damage” (Your Best Resource for Brain Injury). Brain injuries are common and can be permanent. People receive trauma to the brain quite often; there are a lot of athletes who are suffering from these injuries and it has become too broad of an amount of people who are suffering from brain injuries. From mild concussions to Traumatic Brain Injuries, brain trauma is very important to pay attention to. Brain injuries can be so dangerous that it ends up in death or some variation of life skill impairment. There is a career that evaluates brain behavior after these injuries--Neuropsychologists. As a neuropsychologist, they evaluate the relationship between human behaviors and the brain. Neuropsychologists use test and assessments to evaluate brain injuries, although some tests may be invalid due to the test taker; this is common in sports because the athletes just want to continue to play and get back to the game.

Several years ago, I lived with former pro skater Josh Kasper. One Saturday, Josh and I were lounging around the house playing chess (BTW, Josh is also somewhat of a chess aficionado). During our conversation, he mentioned that in skate culture to injuries was a type badge of honor. That's within the skate culture, and the value of a bump or bruise as a badge of honor in skate culture doesn't really apply to many other professions or sub-cultures.

Both non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behavior are part of a group of behaviors that result in physical damage to one's body. Indeed, suicide and NSSI behaviors seem similar, with NSSI often mistaken for suicidal behavior. Nevertheless, there are clear distinctions between suicidal behavior and NSSI with intent being the most important distinction.

Like the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe, LLP, I believe it is imperative to help others after they have been injured, particularly when due to personal injury. Unfortunately, many people fail to see the signs that someone is self harming. This saddens me greatly, especially when hearing about an innocent

Deliberate self-harm is a term that covers a wide range of behaviours some of which are directly related to suicide and some are not. This is a relatively common behaviour that is little understood. This essay provides an overview of the nature and extent of those most at risk of self-harm, including causes and risk factors. Examining some of the stereotyping that surrounds self -harm, and looking at ways in which self-harm can be prevented.

Tomorrow is getting through self-harm. I have struggled with self-harm and thoughts of self-harm. At first, self-harm was punching and pinching myself, but now it’s more than that. Now self-harm means cutting, pinching, punching, and burning myself. Since I mentioned cutting, struggling with thinking about cutting and at one point actually cutting is something that happened to me. In that moment of it all, my only thought was this is my only choice, when I looked at my hand, seeing the blood rush out of my hand, looking at the scissors in the other, watching my tears hit the ground, is something I never want to feel again. So tomorrow does mean a lot to me because it means another of something. Another memory, another smile, another tear, another red face, another hug, and another of everything. Since self-harming, tomorrow means more than just the day after today. It means another day not cutting, pinching, punching or burning myself. Since

The primary treatment objective is for the client to begin to tolerate time between the initial impulse to self-injure and the implementation of Self-Injurious Behavior, which is referred to as the window of opportunity. During this time, it is important for the client to recognize and tolerate the emotion and to focus on making a choice to self-injure or not. As clients learn to do this successfully, the window of opportunity should be increased. As clients become comfortable with this time, alternatives to self-injury should be explored, such as postponement tactics and other means of expression (Crowe & Bunclark, 2000). The goal is for the client to use the growing window of opportunity to identify feelings and thoughts and to utilize alternative coping skills (Conterio et al.,