1. Introduction
Self-injury is a term which describes a variety of behaviours in which there are two critical elements: the damage is acute and the damage is intentional. Self injury is generally an unhealthy effort to cope with overwhelming emotions, such as intense anger, rage, terror or shame. There is often a distinction made by psychiatrists between attempted suicide and self-injury as these acts are most often done without suicidal intent. The damage caused is generally severe enough to leave a bruise, scar or other mark, or cause health issues.
2. Types of self injury
Self injury includes, but is not limited to, cutting, burning, branding, overdosing, bone breaking, interfering with wound healing, scratching, biting, hair pulling
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4.2 Emotional complications
People who have self injured are more likely to develop further emotional issues which will lead to other episodes of self injury which can cause greater feelings of shame and/or guilt which may then lead to a routine of self injury to cope with these distressing emotions.
Those who self injure are also more likely to withdraw from family and friends which can cause intense feelings of loneliness which can trigger further episodes of self injury. This can also be true for people regarding relationships. 4.3 Practical complications
People who self injure face living with scars which may affect confidence and their ability to forge new friendships or even interact in social settings.
Long term damage from cutting or poisoning may cause health issues even after the person has recovered.
5. Presentation and diagnosis
Self injury can be discovered by friends or family members or during routine checkups with GPs although some people may ask someone for help before this. General signs of a person who suffers from self injury include withdrawal from friends and family, fresh cuts or bruises without explanation, frequent broken bones, wearing long sleeves even in hot weather, There is no specific diagnostic test for self injury, however, a mental and physical evaluation would normally be carried out with a mental health specialist. Further evaluation may be required in order to assess any underlying or related
All incidences of injury should be reported, promptly and correctly managed, in a compassionate way. This should be followed by a root cause analysis and an action plan to prevent recurrence which may include retraining staff, and providing necessary equipment among others. Care is offered free of charge to all staff whether paid or unpaid staff as long as they are working at the health facility.
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
Many people think that self-harm is no big deal. “It’s just for attention,” they say “they’re not really hurting themselves… right?” Wrong. Self-harm is a HUGE deal. In fact, it is 40-100 times more common than suicide. Suicide has been around for ages, while self-harm is a new trend that has been growing since the mid 1990’s, and the numbers are still skyrocketing. Self-harm was three times more common in 2011 than in 2007. Now, tell me that you think that that isn’t a big deal. Statistics show that 1% of the United States self-harms. So imagine you are in a room with 200 other people. It is likely that two of these people hurt themselves. Sometimes it is daily, other times it may just be occasional. Two people may not seem like a lot, but in reality it is.
Self-harm: This is the type of abuse where someone causes deliberate pain to themselves with intentions that they definitely will harmed whatever they decide to do. It can be self-harming (cutting themselves), jumping from a height or playing with fire. It could be having an intake of substances that will cause harm to internal organs or having an intake of a recreational drug to cause harm to themselves. It could also be that they are neglecting themselves too. For example, not taking showers, not eating, not drinking, not dressing for the appropriate weather.
In Tony Dokoupil’s article about “the suicide epidemic” He talks about how suicide is the highest rate of “injury death” in the US and how the CDC believes that is surpasses the number of deaths from car crashes. He also goes on to quote Ralph Nader saying, “we have become our own greatest danger” (par 16). Suicidal thoughts and tendencies are also a heightened risk that could lead to serious injury or even death. For some self harm could be severely cutting or scratching their skin as well as burning or puncturing their skin with foreign objects, but others slam themselves into walls, hit things, or bang their head against something. All these things could be potentially dangerous because of the risk of brain damage, broken bones, and severe bleeding. Each of these things could either cause death, or hospitalization. Sometimes people also get addicted to self harm the way others get addicted to nicotine or drugs, if they go for long periods of time without hurting themselves in a way they deem fit they start going into withdrawals. However physical risks aren’t the only types of
People who self harm just want to escape from reality and they do not want to face their depression or anxiety; it is a way for them to cope with stress. Self harm is not considered to be its own mental health condition and doctors believe it is to be caused by depression and/or other mental health illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder. Many things can cause someone to self harm such as self-anger, self-hatred, cope with negative feelings, and to even just feel better (Canadian Mental Health Association). Although those who hurt themselves do not want to end their lives, it can be a sign of a suicidal attempt in the future. It is hard to tell if some self harms and family/friends are surprised when they find out that their loved one hurts themselves. Some of the many symptoms of self harm include scars on their body, wearing long sleeved clothing in the summer or hot weather, and spending much of their time alone (Mayo Clinic). There are other symptoms of self harm that do not involve hurting one’s self with a razor or blade (Help Guide). Self harm does not only affect the one who is doing it, but also the family and the ones around the self
Self inflicted harm: Also referred to as self injurious behavior, a large percentage of individuals with disabilities engage in self
Individuals sometimes turn to nonsuicidal self-injury (NNSSI) to stop bad feelings or to just simply generate a sense of feelings. However, research regarding childhood abuse potentially leading to NSSI is scarce. Weinrich and colleagues wanted to look at two PTSD side effect clusters as potential systems through which childhood abuse may being related to NSSI (Weinrich & Nock, 2008). The study included 86 adolescents who were primarily female Caucasians who had shown signs of childhood abuse. Sole purpose of this study was to examine correlated of the presence and frequency of NSSI. Therefore, both self-injurers and non-injurers were included in this study. It was hypothesized that individuals who had experienced childhood abuse may engage
So if a personal injury, whether physical or mental does occur, what should you do excluding the fact that you need medical attention? Well we are here to talk about that.
The majority of the time when someone gets a cut or a burn, they just slap a Band-Aid on it and go on with their day. Then a few days later they are caught wondering why the wound is not healing and why it is getting worse. The reason their wound is not healing is because they did not use the equitable technique to clean and bandage the laceration. It is very important to know how to clean a wound properly. The process includes the proper cleaning, medicating, and bandaging procedure.
When discussing suicide in class, we also learned about NSSI which is nonsuicidal self-injury. This is when someone hurts themselves physically without purposely trying to kill themselves. There are multiple explanations as to why someone would do this. One of the reasons, is to get attention from other people or use it as manipulation. In addition, a person might also do this to distract themselves from the emotional pain they are feeling. The physical injury gives them a sense of validation for the pain that they are experiencing on the inside. Lastly, the physical pain somehow lets them release their emotions.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5) there are a number of disorders that are proposed as conditions for further study, including nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) disorder (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). According to the proposed diagnostic criteria, an individual must have engaged in self-injury behavior (e.g., cutting, burning, scraping) on the surface of their body, at least five times over the last year, without suicidal intent. Additionally, the self-injury is done with the intent of gaining relief from negative emotions and the individual experiences excessive thoughts about self-injury in the period of time before the act (APA, 2013). Since the DSM-5 was published, many studies
Self-inflicted injuries and unusual deaths are common, more now than ever. Texting while driving alone kills about 6,000 annually. About 600 people die each year due to asphyxiation, the act of suffocation, whether for sexual arousal or suicide. Bizarrely, about 450 people die from falling out of bed each year. Falling out of bed, accounts for about 1.8 million emergency room visits and over 400, 000 hospital admissions annually. Not really unusual but the most common death are due to cardiovascular disease. The most common self-inflicted injury is the burning, cutting and bruising of the skin. Close to 70% of teens engage in this type of self-injury and have tried to commit suicide at least once. About 55% of people have tried to commit suicide multiple times. Each one of these yearly rates has continued to grow since the early 1990’s and have yet to decrease.
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.
Self-harm also known as self-injury, self-abuse, self-mutilation occurs when someone internationally and repeatedly harms herself/himself in a way that is impulsive and not intended to be lethal. “Self harm, often referred to as cutting”. Cutting is an self-injurious behavior where a student uses a sharp object such as: a razor blade and a knife to inflict physical pain. Although cutting is one of the most common and well documented forms, there are many things people do to hurt themselves (Bells 1). Self-harming behavior can include variety of methods of self injury (pearlman 1). Studies have documented over 16 forms of self-injury and there may well be more than that (Bells 1). Most common methods are scratching, burning, carving, hitting, punching or pulling out hair. Self-injury can be and is performed on any part of the body, but most often occurs on the hands, wrists, stomach and thighs. The severity of the act can vary from superficial wounds to those resulting in lasting disfigurement (Bells