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Where do teenagers get the desire (and need) to harm themselves – to cut, stab, choke or poison themselves? The researchers found several reasons.
One in ten teens in the United States deliberately harms their bodies. To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed information from the National Trauma Database on more than 286 adolescents aged 10-18. Those who went to emergency rooms usually inflicted cutting or stabbing injuries on themselves – most often they were girls. Boys sometimes even used firearms. As for falling from a height, self-suffocation and poisoning, these methods of reprisal against oneself also attract young people, but less often.
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- Why teenagers hurt themselves
However, these cases should not be considered only as unsuccessful suicide attempts. “Mostly self-harm is not related to suicide. However, this does not mean that parents should not worry. Any injury is a cause for concern, as adolescents who engage in it are more likely to make actual suicide attempts.”, says Gretchen Cutler of the Minnesota Children’s Hospital Association in the United States.
To help teenagers with this problem, psychologists and researchers are trying to figure out where the desire and need to harm themselves comes from. Many say that it helps them to release the accumulated emotional tension and experience relief. For others, on the contrary, physical pain makes it possible to “feel alive.”
“Usually teens hurt themselves to make themselves feel better, and they don’t want anyone to see it, especially parents. There are far fewer who do it defiantly to attract attention, ”says school psychologist and psychotherapist Benna Strober (Benna Strober).
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That is why teenagers cut, stab and cauterize those parts of the body that are easy to hide under clothes – thighs, forearms, chest. And for the same reason, few of them get the help they need. Studies show that only 5% of those who injure themselves have a psychiatric diagnosis. Self-harm can be triggered by depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and bipolar disorder.
Unfortunately, breaking an unhealthy habit is not easy. Psychologists say that many patients find it difficult to stop self-harming because it is the only way for them to release their inner pain. Therefore, it is important not to perceive self-harm as a way to attract attention, but to try to understand the cause of the teenager’s condition and try to help him find another way to express pain. But first, others will have to acknowledge the reality of the child’s suffering.
See C. Flood et al. for details. “Emergency department visits for self-inflicted injuries in adolescents”, Pediatrics, published April 22, 2015.