CURRENT AGE: 23
SELF-INJURY GETS MORE SCRUTINY
The Indiana University Health Center estimates that one in 10 people in their late teens and 20s will self-injure at least once during adolescence or early adulthood.
And Butler University reports that cutting injuries among middle-school and high-school students is a "growing concern."
As a result, they offer educators a professional development workshop called "Helping Those Who Hurt Themselves." Other colleges and health centers in Indiana also report increasing numbers of young people who deliberately cut their own flesh or hurt themselves in other ways.
"Self-injury is rampant," says Linda Martin, a clinical social worker in private practice and at a day therapeutic school. She is an expert on helping young people who purposely injure themselves. Martin now works in Chicago but did similar therapy work here until recently.
There were no newspaper articles about self-injury in 1984. But in 2004, 210 newspaper articles reported on the problem. And a Cornell University study found more than 400 self-injury message boards on the Internet.
Yet, the reasons behind these statistics are often overlooked.
"I think I started cutting just because I felt like nobody or nothing cared about me, and it felt better to hurt myself than to not be cared about at all," says "Clarissa," a 16-year-old former self-injurer. (Her name and the names of others who have deliberately injured themselves have been changed in this article to protect their privacy.)
When Clarissa first decided to cut herself last January, she thought: "I want to escape from where I am right now, and I want to hurt myself to the point that I feel better."
"Erin," 17, is another former self-injurer. "I felt like everyone around me was disappointed in me, that I could never measure up to everyone else's standards."
She began using self-injury as a form of emotional release in September 2005. "I had been dealing with depression for a while, and then it got to the point where I didn't know how to handle it. I'd heard from other people about self- injury, and I was like: 'Well, I guess I can try, see what that does.' And then it's kind of addicting," she says.
Peer pressure can also affect a young person's decision to self-injure. "It's not right, but a lot of people think that it will make them accepted," says Erin. "But if you have to put a mark on your arm to make people be your friends, that's a problem."
A specific incident may trigger a self-injurer's first act. Clarissa first cut herself after failing a drug test last January. "I failed the drug test and my family life came crashing down," she says.
In Martin's experiences with clients, "the majority of self-injurers have been sexually abused." (Neither Erin nor Clarissa has been a client of Martin's.)
Self-injurers often feel overwhelmed with some aspect of life before they begin injuring themselves, Martin says. Beyond sexual abuse, they may be neglected or physically abused. It may be a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend. It may be the parents' divorce or a death in the family. It can be something simpler, but upsetting as well, such as doing poorly in a class.
The person who cuts is devastated or overwhelmed emotionally, Martin says.
Clarissa tried to hide the cuts from her friends and family, but at the same time, she wanted them to understand how she felt.
"There was a part of me that was doing it for attention, because I had been trying to tell my mom for such a long time that I wasn't happy. And I'd been trying to tell my boyfriend that I wasn't happy, and no one seemed alert to my feelings. And by cutting myself, I was like: 'If you're not gonna listen, then I'll just show you how I feel.' "
Eventually, Clarissa's friends saw the cuts and told her parents.
"When I came home from work one night, my parents got really mad at me for it and threatened to send me away. That just made all the emotional hollowness 10 times worse and made me want to keep doing it," she says. From that point, she began to use self-injury as a coping tool.
Erin tried to hide her cuts, as well, but eventually confessed to her mom that she had been injuring herself after her mother saw the marks on her arm.
"When my mom finally found out, I was like: 'Oh my God, I've let her down again.' "
Young people who injure themselves are often ostracized and misunderstood by their own peers, as well as adults.
People often stereotype self-injurers as "emo." The term emo originated in the mid-1980s as an abbreviation of the music genre "emotionally driven hardcore punk." Now it is often used to describe fans of this genre as well as certain styles of dress.
"A lot of people say that it's just emo kids trying to get people to pay attention to them. And it's not that at all for me. It's nothing to do with me wanting to get attention from anyone," Erin says.
Clarissa faced the same obstacle: "People just assumed that I was cutting myself so that I could be considered emo and be cool."
She says it is that kind of stereotyping that can pressure kids to injure themselves. "When teens start to get labeled in a certain group, like the whole emo group or whatever, you just start falling into what everybody wants you to be," Clarissa says.
Other kids see cutting as some sort of joke; they don't take it seriously, say Clarissa and Erin.
More openness and discussion about self- injury will help it to become better understood, say the girls and Martin, the social worker.
Therapy has played an important role in both girls' recovery.
Clarissa began seeing a therapist after she first cut herself. Now, she visits the therapist every few months. "It helps because the therapist wasn't gonna judge me. I could say whatever I wanted to say," she says.
A lack of coping skills can force people to continue cutting themselves, Martin says.
"And that's where therapy comes in," she says. "You learn to cope by talking about it and learning different behaviors. For example, if you feel like you want to injure yourself, then instead, you take a walk, do something with your hands, like counted cross-stitch or go to your computer and just hang out there."
Erin says it's critical to find the underlying reasons for self-injury.
"They should probably talk to someone whom they can trust, and go see a doctor, because people cut because they're depressed," says Erin. "I can tell you that once you get help, you start getting better, you are happy, and it feels so much better."
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Meher Ahmad, 15; Zoe Hayes, 18; Katie Stergar, 15.
REPORTER: Reginetta White, 13.
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Facts to know about self-injury
About the same percentage of females and males engage in self-injury.
The majority of self-injurers are between the ages of 13 and 30, but self-injury afflicts all ages and economic groups.
Self-injury often occurs after a major, stressful change in a young person's life.
Self-injurers often have a family history of violence, abuse or sexual abuse.
Self-injury is most often not a suicidal gesture.
Schools and universities should adopt formal guidelines for detecting and managing self-injurious behavior.
Self-injurious behavior can be contagious, especially in schools. That makes early intervention and prevention programs all the more important.
Educating youth about the dangers mass media can play in glorifying self-injurious acts is important.
Be wary of self-injury message boards. They often provide important social support to self-injurers, but sometimes also normalize and encourage self-injurious behavior.
Those who self-injure or who are at risk of hurting themselves often feel isolated and alone. Reach out and help them find assistance.
Persons who self-injure can recover and learn to use new and healthier coping mechanisms. There are therapists specializing in this field. Talk to a counselor, therapist or health-care provider to get help.
Sources: Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents, www.coolnurse.com, Developmental Psychology 2006, Vol. 42
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To learn more
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: www.aacap.org.
American Self-Harm Information Clearing House: http://selfinjury.org.
Cool Nurse: www.coolnurse.com.
Indiana State Department of Heath: www.in.gov/isdh/index.html.
Kids Health: www.kidshealth.org.
National Mental Health Association: www.nmha.org/index.cfm.
S.A.F.E. Alternatives -- Self Abuse Finally Ends: www.selfinjury.com.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: www.hhs.gov/.
WebMD: www.webmd.com/.
Originally published 11-05-06
Copyright 2006 Y-Press