Essay on 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

People that harm themselves may feel very lonely or disconnected and need a shoulder to cry on or someone to listen. Another misconception is that those who self-harm are suicidal. Although this can be the case and prolonged self-harm can increase a person’s risk for suicide and suicidal thoughts, most of the time self-harm is used as a way of coping. Some believe that only teenagers self-harm but this habit can continue into adulthood as well. Self-harm has many addictive qualities due to the fact that every time you harm yourself your body releases endorphins. Telling someone to stop hurting him or herself is like telling a person who drinks coffee every day to just stop. Chances are they

In order to prevent future violent situations, people need to be educated about why youth self harm. When people self harm they may feel like they have lost touch with reality, “They say it eases their pain. That it clears their minds and makes them feel calm. But to those on the outside looking in, slicing your arm with a razor blade is the stuff of horror movies” (Galley). School violence is overtaking headlines, and teens are struggling with untreated mental illnesses, “Federal health officials recommended universal mental health screenings for students nearly a decade ago, they still aren’t required” (Kennedy). Schools would rather suspend or send mentally ill youth to an alternative program, then helping the student get the resources they

In 1988, an evaluation was completed in Kentucky, where Korn reported massive amounts of “appetite loss, weight loss, visual disturbances, and heart palpitations” (Shalev 11). This evaluation was done in a maximum security prison for adults, so when you transfer the results to children, they would have extreme setbacks in their growth and physical development. While in the walls of solitary confinement a fifteen year old girl, named Melanie H., reported how she came to the solution of cutting herself by, somehow, acquiring staples and beginning to carve letters and symbols into her forearms in order to show her own personal apology to her family and herself for what she has done, expecting people to understand her cry for help. Another girls said that she would cut herself with staples and show the officers and the staff, but they wouldn’t do anything in order to help her mentally and especially physically. She was denied medical treatment for her self harm outbursts, and she did it only to get attention and for someone to talk to her and understand what was happening. Twelve teenagers reported to the Human Rights Watch about their experience with either trying to take their own life, or witnessing an attempt or a successful act someone taking their own life.

“Why Teenagers Cut, and How to Help,” by Jessica Lahey was quite an interesting article to read. This article talked about many things associated with teenagers cutting themselves and how parents, teachers and other adults could help prevent teens from causing self-injuries such as cuts to the body. It first started with the author talking about a girl named Sarah that she met. Sarah was a 15-year-old teenager who was at the age of twelve causing self-injuries by cutting herself which she felt made her feel better do to one of her parents abusing her. The author used Sarah’s story to understand what causes teens to make self-injuries by asking “Dr. Michael Hollander who is the director of Training and Consultations of 3East Dialectical Behavioral Therapy program. This program is at the McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, he also is the author of “Helping Teens Who Cut: Understanding and Ending Self-Injury” ().

Self harm is an mental health issue that not a lot of people know about. Self harm is “...the act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself” (www.mayoclinic.org). It is an issue that people do not like to talk about and especially in schools. Statistics showed that in 2014, 110% of teen girls per 100,000 self-harmed; and it has increased from 23% to 35% that teen boys self-harm (Michelle). Overall, about 15% of Canadian teenagers self harm (Kids Help Phone). Although many teenagers self harm, people do not think about if adults self harm. Statistics showed that in 2006, 54% of adults between the ages of 30 and 64 self harmed (Public Agency Of Canada). Those who self harm may be suicidal, but they do not

In middle school, I thought of self harm every day. Luckily, I knew that self harm was a permanent fix to a temporary problem. I thought of doing self harm to myself because I was a victim of bullying. Having never been bullied before, I didn 't know how to cope with it at first. A group of five girls set out to make my life miserable, because they were jealous of the way I looked. From the start of 6th grade to the middle of 8th grade, there wasn’t a day that went by that I was not picked on. I had been pushed into lockers, tripped, and verbally abused, but I never asked for help. I didn’t think anyone could help. My classmates all saw it happening to me but they never said anything. I believe that they never stepped in, because they didn’t want it to happen to them. I started missing classes to hide out in the bathroom, and I soon started missing days because I would stay home. I missed so much that the school sent home attendance letters voicing their concern with the amount of absences I had.

Self harm is becoming a bigger and bigger issue for teens and adolescents each day. Studies show that 2 to 3 million American teens in some way or form endeavor to hurt themselves each year. There are many reasons why most teens decide to harm themselves, but there was one reason that stuck out. In an article titled “Teens Who Self-harm” Written by Marie Hartwell-Walker, it stated that some teens who harm themselves are generally not looking for a way to end their lives, but they are looking for a way to end emotional pain.

Some major mental illnesses adolescent teens suffer are, “Anxiety disorders were the most common condition (31.9%), followed by behavior disorders (19.1%), mood disorders (14.3%), and substance use disorders (11.4%), with approximately 40% of participants with one class of disorder also meeting criteria for another class of lifetime disorder.” (Merikangas n.p.g.). These disorders are long lasting and do not just simply go away without some sort of treatment such as therapy, medication, more hands on attention, and so forth. These kids need someone to talk to and confide in that knows what they are going through and/or knows how to help them cope with their disorder. A mental illness is not something that one chooses, it is a disease that can potentially lead to a form of self-bullying either mentally or physically. Keith Hawton, a professor of psychiatry and a consultant psychiatrist to the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, found that, “398 (6.9%) participants reported an act of deliberate self-harm in the previous year that met study criteria. Only 12.6% of episodes had resulted in presentation to hospital. Deliberate self-harm was more common in females than it was in males (11.2% v 3.2%; odds ratio 3.9, 95% confidence interval 3.1 to 4.9)” (Hawton n.p.g). Mental disorders may affect those closest to us and it may be detrimental, however, there are ways to help relieve the symptoms

The purpose of this article is to explore the issues of deliberate self-harm of people who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Those who have BPD will typically engage in self-destructive behaviors, like purposefully harming themselves. Although self-harm is not always an attempt to commit suicide, those who self-harm has a higher chance of committing suicide in the future. Self-harm relates to shame, psychological stress, and anti-social behavior. Adolescents have a higher rate of suffering from self-harm. The average age of those who self-harm are 13 to 14 years old.

On the HealthyPlace website, they say, “Frequently, untreated depression and other mental health challenges create an environment of despair that leads people to cope with these challenges in unhealthy ways.” Girls are more likely to deal with these issues than girls, as their depression can lead them to self destructive behavior (Abbondanza). This does not mean that males do not self-harm. A HealthyPlace study has shown that 1 in 7 guys and 1 in 5 girls self-harm. In addition, “Females comprise 60 percent of those who engage in self injurious behavior” (“Self Injury, Self”). These statistics are way too high and something needs to be done about it. Many people hide the fact that they harm themselves, meaning these statistics are only of those shown to be dealing with it. There are likely to be many more teenagers hurting themselves than we know because it is not being reported. Even so, there are roughly two million self-harming cases reported yearly (“Self Injury, Self”). One thing that educators and parents should take note of is that it has been shown that self-injury is more likely in developing countries, such as the United States and some European countries (“Self Harm, Self”). Because people in developed countries are not in survival mode, they can feel the luxury of self-harm. They have most of what they need to survive, and because of that, their attention is not being focused on being

Why are there long sleeves being worn in the middle of summer? Why hasn’t anyone tried to help? People react in different ways when they find out about someone they love hurting themselves. They will tell their friend to stop and that it is not necessary. But the truth is that these people often do not see it as a bad thing. They see it as a good thing because they got out of a bad state of mind and all though there are visible scars they are still here, even when everything is telling them to give up, to give in, to take their life so they do not have to live another day of bullying, abuse, heart ache, they are still here. When friends find out they do everything they can to make this person stop, here sign a contract if it happens again, mother is told. Here give away your tool, to the garbage it goes. No, these things do not work. It is not something these people can help. It is a real disorder in which the brain tells them they need to continue to do it, that without it; they will not be able to take the emotional pain. That turning emotional pain into physical pain will make it a lot easier to cope with everyday hard ships. Taking away tools and signing contracts will not help. The person suffering from the disorder has to be ready to stop for themselves and nobody else.

Students are expected to pump out A’s, study for hours a night, join a sports team or club and do that for a few hours a day, and work a job to make money, all this after a school day, leaving absolutely no time for freedom. Most teachers - but not all - expect students to come to class and get goods grades when they have no idea what their home life is like. The student could have had a close one die, be abused by their parents, be suicidal, or have alcoholic parents, and are expected to do just as much as everyone else. The number of students that cut themselves is ridiculous. I personally have four friends that self harm, my youth leader self harmed in school, three kids in one class admitted to have self harmed, and a boy in another class has cuts all over his arm. Even in middle school a girl was covered in scars. These are just the ones that I personally have seen and been told - there are probably tons of other students who partake in this. This is what our education system has led us to. Students hurt themselves because they don’t know how else to live. The act of self harm happens when there’s no more room for pain - when the student feels absolutely horrible. Statistics show that one in five females self harm and one in seven males self harm. Teachers need to start caring more about the students they teach and not expect as much from them. Students need free time to express themselves and reduce

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.

For instance, some adolescents cut their wrists. In America, self harm is considered a problem, no matter the reason for it. There are plenty of factors that could lead people to cut themselves.