Where do adolescents have a desire (and need) to cause damage — cut, chop, strangle or poison yourself? Researchers have found several reasons.
One of the ten teenagers in the United States deliberately harms their body. To come to this conclusion, scientists analyzed the information of the national database on traumatology about more than 286 thousand adolescents aged 10-18 years.
Those who turned to the points of emergency care usually caused cutting or stitching damage — most often they were girls. Boys sometimes used even firearms. As for the fall from a height, self -focus and poisoning, these methods of reprisals against themselves also attract young people, but less often.
Nevertheless, these cases should not be considered only as unsuccessful attempts of suicide. “Basically, self -confusion is not related to suicide. However, this does not mean that parents should not worry. Any damage is an occasion for anxiety, since adolescents who are engaged in this more often make real attempts of suicide» — says Gretchen Cutler from the Association of Children’s Hospital Minnesota in the United States.
To help adolescents suffering from this problem, psychologists and researchers are trying to find out where the desire and need to inflict damage to themselves. Many say that this helps them to release the accumulated emotional stress and experience relief. To others, on the contrary, physical pain makes it possible to «feel alive».
“Typically, adolescents cause damage to themselves to make them better, and they do not want someone to see it, especially parents. Those who do it defiantly, to attract attention, are much less, ”says the school psychologist and psychotherapist Benna Strober (Benna Strober).
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That is why adolescents cut, prickly and cauterize those parts of the body that are easy to hide under clothes — hips, forearms, chest. And for the same reason, few of them receive the necessary assistance. As studies show, only 5% of those who inflicte injuries have a psychiatric diagnosis. Depression, stressful syndrome, as well as bipolar disorder can push self -overpass.
Unfortunately, getting rid of an unhealthy habit is not easy. Psychologists say that it is difficult for many patients to stop damaging themselves, because for them this is the only way to give an exit of inner pain. Therefore, it is important not to perceive self -confusion as a way of attracting attention, but to try to understand the cause of the teenager and try to help him find another way to express pain. But for starters, others will have to recognize the reality of the suffering of the child.
For more details see. C. Flood et al. «Emergency Department Visits for Self-Inflicted Injuries in Adolescents», Pediatrics, publication of April 22, 2015.
