self harming

"Self-harm is a way of dealing with very strong emotions. For some people it gives the relief that crying may provide for the rest of us - but maybe they've cried so much that it no longer gives them any relief. Some self-harming people feel so angry and aggressive that they can't control their emotions. They become afraid that they may hurt someone, so they turn their aggression inwards to get relief. People who self-harm are often labelled as 'attention seeking'. However, a person who self-harms may believe this is the only way to communicate their distress.

Self-harm can be a hidden problem that goes on for years. It may start as a spur-of-the-moment outlet for anger and frustration (such as punching a wall) and can develop into a major way of coping with stress that, because it remains hidden, generates more stress.

The severity of self-harm doesn't depend on how serious the underlying problems are. Usually, as time passes, the person becomes more tolerant of the pain they inflict and so has to do more severe harm to themselves to obtain the same sense of relief. This spiral can lead to permanent injury and serious infections.



How commen is it?
About ten per cent of admissions to medical wards in the UK are as a result of self-harm. Women are at the most risk of self-harming between the ages of 15 and 19; men, between 20 and 24. Women have higher rates of self-harm than men. Methods of infliction vary, but the majority of cases admitted to hospital are for drug overdoses - only five to 15 per cent are caused by cutting.

These figures probably hide another group that regularly self-harms to relieve stress. These people have usually found ways to keep their problem hidden and, when they do harm themselves badly enough to need treatment, they'll often have a story well prepared, or not seek help at all. The result can be permanent disfigurement or a serious infection.

About half the men admitted to hospital for self-harm and a quarter of women have drunk alcohol in the hours beforehand. This is a very worrying figure. A person taking the decision to overdose while under the influence of alcohol - and so possibly acting impulsively - runs the risk of having the drugs interact with the alcohol. Both the drugs and the alcohol could become more potent when mixed in the body - the person may end up taking a much stronger mixture than they anticipated, with tragic consequences.

It's important to make a distinction between self-harm and attempted suicide. About a quarter of the people treated in casualty for deliberate self-injury have tried to take their own lives, or - undecided about whether or not they want to live - have simply put the choice in the hands of fate.


Types of self-harm
The most common forms are cutting the arms, hands and legs, and less commonly the face, abdomen, breasts and even genitals. Some burn or scald themselves, others inflict blows on their bodies, or bang themselves against something. Other ways people injure themselves include scratching, picking, biting, scraping and occasionally inserting sharp objects under the skin or into body orifices and swallowing sharp objects or harmful substances.

Common forms of self-injury that rarely reach medical attention include sufferers pulling out their own hair and eyelashes, picking at spots or skin and scrubbing themselves so hard as to cause abrasion (sometimes using cleaners such as bleach).

It's hard to say how common self-mutilation is because it's such a secretive activity. Confidential helplines receive calls from those who've injured themselves for years without telling anyone, because of the shame and fear of condemnation. But some studies have found that 11 per cent of students questioned had slashed or cut themselves at some point.

Childhood sex abuse
A lot of people say they start self-harming behaviour in childhood disguising scratches and bumps as accidents and progressing to more systematic cutting and burning in adolescence.

A popular theory is that those who self-mutilate do so because they've been victims of sexual abuse during their childhood. The theory contends that because these victims were forbidden to reveal the truth about their abuse in oppressive or neglectful families, they use self-mutilation or self-cutting to express to the world the horrors of abuse.

Their self-harm is a form of communication to get others to notice that something is wrong without the victim actually saying what really happened because they're afraid of being punished by the perpetrators of the abuse.

Another theory is that sexual abuse in early childhood has led to extremely low self-esteem - either because you blame yourself for your abuse or the perpetrator ensures you feel low about yourself as part of their campaign to control you. If very low self-esteem develops, self-harm as an expression of self-hatred is understandable.

Certainly one research finding is that self-harmers tend to grow up in an 'invalidating environment' - one where the communication of private experiences is met with unreliable, inappropriate or extreme responses. The expression of private experiences as a result is not validated - instead, it's trivialised or punished.

The problem with these theories is that (for example, in the case of the sexual abuse theory), not everyone who's been sexually abused starts to self-harm, and also not everyone who self-harms has been sexually abused. For a small percentage of the group of patients that claim to be sexually abused, the evidence is non-existent and their own accounts are inconsistent.


Biological addiction
An increasingly popular biological theory for self-cutting is that it triggers the release of the body's natural opiate-like chemicals, which are released to reduce pain whenever we're injured. Perhaps self-cutters have become addicted to their body's heroin-like reaction to cutting, which is why they do it again and again. They may also suffer withdrawal if they haven't done it for a while. Drugs used to treat heroin addicts are helpful with self-cutters, but mostly for those who described a 'high' after they've cut themselves.

Another theory, which in-patient units often use, is based on the psychological principle that all behaviour has consequences that are somehow rewarding. Cutting usually leads to a sequence of behaviour, perhaps including provoking a reaction in others - increased attention, for example - which may become the rewarding reason to repeat the behaviour.

Removing rewards when self-harmers are moved from their home or local environment and admitted to a specialist unit, whatever reactions were provoked in others now can't occur. Staff in specialist units such as the Bethlem Royal are specially trained to ensure that no consequences might follow from an episode of cutting that could be rewarding, such as increased attention.

Instead, when the patient stops cutting themselves, they're rewarded with increased attention from staff. A framework is established in which patients learn to accept responsibility for self-harming.

Under inexperienced care, a complicated situation can evolve where staff come to be blamed for the 'patient not getting better' and so subtly take on responsibility for the self-cutting, therefore, releasing the patient from accepting their own role in the cause of their problems.

Self-harm culture
It's essential that self-harm is destigmatised. A good start would be to acknowledge the extent to which self-injury is part of contemporary culture. For example, we modify our bodies by cutting, piercing, cosmetic surgery (breast enhancement and nose jobs), hair removal, skin bleaching, hair straightening and tattooing.

Research has found that criminals who have tattoos are more likely to self-harm than those who don't. All this activity bears a resemblance to clinical self-injury in an important respect - it always contains an underlying assumption that an individual is not good enough without changing their body."(in the words of some1 from the BBC- click on the title for the linkor just click on this link
"

"Self-harm, also known as self-injury, self-inflicted violence, self-injurious behavior, or self-mutilation, can be defined as the deliberate, direct injury of one's own body that causes tissue damage or leave marks for more than a few minutes and that is done in order to deal with an overwhelming or distressing situation.

It's important to remember that, even though it may not be apparent to an outside observer, self-injury is serving a function for the person who does it. Figuring out what functions it serves and helping someone learn other ways to get those needs met is essential to helping people who self-harm. Some of the reasons self-injurers have given for their acts include:

*Affect modulation (distraction from emotional pain, ending feelings of numbness, lessening a desire to suicide, calming overwhelming/intense feelings)
*Maintaining control and distracting the self from painful thoughts or memories
*Self-punishment (either because they believe they deserve punishment for either having good feelings or being an "evil" person or because they hope that self-punishment will avert worse punishment from some outside source
*Expression of things that can't be put into words (displaying anger, showing the depth of emotional pain, shocking others, seeking support and help)
*Expression of feelings for which they have no label -- this phenomenon, called alexithymia (literally no words feeling), is common in people who self-harm
See Osuch, Noll, & Putnam, Psychiatry 62 (Winter 99), pp: 334-345
Zlotnick et al, Comprehensive Psychiatry 37(1) pp:12-16.

People who self-injure often never developed healthy ways to feel and express emotion or to tolerate distress. Studies have shown that self-harm can put a person at a high level of physiological arousal back to a baseline state.

It's natural to want to help people who self-injure develop healthier ways of coping when they feel overwhelmed, but it's important not to let your discomfort with the concept of self-harm cause you to issue ultimatums, punish self-harming behavior, or threaten to leave if the person self-harms again. Ideally, you should set boundaries to keep yourself feeling safe while respecting the person's right to make his or her own decisions about how to deal with stress.


Common Myths about Self-Injury

Self-harm is usually a failed suicide attempt.
This myth persists despite a wealth of studies showing that, although people who self-injure may be at a higher risk of suicide than others, they distinguish betwen acts of self-harm and attempted suicide. Many, if not most, self-injuring people who make a suicide attempt use means that are completely different to their preferred methods of self-inflicted violence.

People who self-injure are crazy and should be locked up.
Tracy Alderman, Ph.D., author of The Scarred Soul, addressed this:

"Fear can lead to dangerous overreactions. In dealing with clients who hurt themselves, you will probably feel fear. . . . Hospitalizing clients for self-inflicted violence is one such form of overreaction. Many therapists, because they do not possess an adequate understanding of SIV, will use extreme measures to assure (they think) their clients' best interests. However, few people who self-injure need to be hospitalized or institutionalized. The vast majority of self-inflicted wounds are neither life threatening nor require medical treatment. Hospitalizing a client involuntarily for these issues can be damaging in several ways. Because SIV is closely related to feelings of lack of control and overwhelming emotional states, placing someone in a setting that by its nature evokes these feelings is very likely to make matters worse, and may lead to an incident of SIV. In addition, involuntary hospitalization often affects the therapeutic relationship in negative ways, eroding trust, communication, rapport, and honesty. Caution should be used when assessing a client's level of threat to self or others. In most cases, SIV is not life threatening. . . . Because SIV is so misunderstood, clinicians often overreact and provide treatment that is contraindicated.
People who self-harm are just trying to get attention.
A wise friend once emailed me a list of attention-seeking behaviors: wearing nice clothing, smiling at people, saying "hi", going to the check-out counter at a store, and so on. We all seek attention all the time; wanting attention is not bad or sick. If someone is in so much distress and feels so ignored that the only way he can think of to express his pain is by hurting his body, something is definitely wrong in his life and this isn't the time to be making moral judgments about his behavior.
That said, most poeple who self-injure go to great lengths to hide their wounds and scars. Many consider their self-harm to be a deeply shameful secret and dread the consequences of discovery.

Self-inflicted violence is just an attempt to manipulate others.
Some people use self-inflicted injuries as an attempt to cause others to behave in certain ways, it's true. Most don't, though. If you feel as though someone is trying to manipulate you with SI, it may be more important to focus on what it is they want and how you can communicate about it while maintaining appropriate boundaries. Look for the deeper issues and work on those.

Only people with Borderline Personality Disorder self-harm.
Self-harm is a criterion for diagnosing BPD, but there are 8 other equally important criteria. Not everyone with BPD self-harms, and not all people who self-harm have BPD (regardless of practitioners who automatically diagnose anyone who self-injures with BPD).

If the wounds aren't "bad enough," self-harm isn't serious.
The severity of the self-inflicted wounds has very little to do with the level of emotional distress present. Different people have different methods of SI and different pain tolerances. The only way to figure out how much distress someone is in is to ask. Never assume; check it out with the person.

Only teen-aged girls self-injure.
In five years of existence, the bodies-under-siege email list has had members of both genders, from six continents, and ranging in age from 14-60+. It's a person-who-has-no-other-way-to-cope thing, not a teenage (or female or American or whatever) thing."(in the word of sum1 from the self injery website thats the link)

Dyslexia

Dyslexics are believed to be slow learners, mentally retarded, slow in comprehension, emotionally disturbed and totally unfit for learning. But Dyslexics have a problem only in reading, writing, spelling and sometimes maths, but not in thinking.

With the lack of awareness about Dyslexia among teachers and parents, has often lead to the child being branded as "Idiot" or "lazy". This effects the children emotionally. They develop low self-esteem and school becomes a horrible place for them.

"so what is Dyslexia?

The word 'dyslexia' comes from the Greek and means 'difficulty with words'.

Dyslexia is a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process in one or more of reading, spelling and writing. It is a persistent condition. Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in areas of:

>speed of processing;
>short term memory;
>organisation;
>sequencing; and
>spoken language and motor skills.

There may also be difficulties with auditory and/or visual perception. It is particularly related to mastering and using written language, which may include alphabetic, numeric and musical notation.

Dyslexia can occur despite normal intellectual ability and teaching. It is constitutional in origin, part of one’s make-up and independent of socio-economic or language background.

Some learners have very well developed creative skills and/or interpersonal skills, others have strong oral skills. Some have no outstanding talents. All have strengths.

Possible difficulties.

>Reading hesitantly.
>Misreading, making understanding difficult.
>Difficulty with sequences, e.g. getting dates in order.
>Poor organisation or time management.
>Difficulty organising thoughts clearly.
>Erratic spelling.

Possible strengths.


>Innovative thinkers.
>Excellent trouble shooters.
>Intuitive problem solving.
>Creative in many different ways.
>Lateral thinkers."

(from the The British Dyslexia Association website clickont the title of the page for the link)


People with Dyslexia may show one or more of the following symptoms:

GENERAL

>Appears bright and articulate, but unable to read, write or spell at appropriate level
>Labelled lazy, dumb, immature, or with a behavioural problem
>Disorderly or compulsive behaviour
>Poor self-esteem; covers up weaknesses with ingenious compensatory strategies; easily frustrated
>Daydreamer; gets lost easily; poor time sense
>Limited attention span
>Learns best through experience, observation and visual aids

READING

>Skips or misreads words and lines
>Poor comprehension

HEARING AND SPEECH

>Easily distracted
>Difficulty putting thoughts into words
>Mispronounces words or stammers

WRITING

>Trouble with writing or copying; unusual pen grip, often presses too hard
>Handwriting varies or is illegible

MATHS

>Difficulty remembering tables or other sequential information
>Knows answers, but fails to work them out on paper
>Counting on fingers
>Difficulty with word problems

Here are the basic abilities all dyslexics share:

>They can utilize the brain's ability to alter and create perceptions (the primary ability).
>They are highly aware of the environment.
>They are more curious than average.
>They think mainly in pictures instead of words.
>They are highly intuitive and insightful.
>They think and perceive multi-dimensionally (using all the senses).
>They can experience thought as reality.
>They have vivid imagination.

Dyslexics have above average intelligence?

Here is a list of some of the people who seemed to have been dyslexic:
>Leonardo DaVinci who had reversals in his manuscripts.
>W. Woolworth "who did not have sense".
>George Patton who had spelling, writing, reading prblems.
>Auguste Rodin who had math, spelling, and language problems.
>Winston Churchill.
>Harvey Cushing, a brain surgeon, who had spelling, and other language problems
>Fred Astaire
>Enrico Caruso
>Albert Einstein was not accepted at college, because he failed his EFL entrance exam.


Famous People with the Gift of Dyslexia

Here are the names of some of the many individuals who are dyslexic, or had symptoms of dyslexia or related learning problems:


Actors & Entertainers:

Harry Andersen, Fred Astaire, Harry Belafonte, George Burns, Enrico Caruso, Tom Cruise, Dave Foley, Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, Tracey Gold, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Hampshire, Jay Leno, River Phoenix, Edward James Olmos, Jill Pages, Oliver Reed, Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Smothers, Robin Williams, Henry Winkler

Artists, Designers, & Architects:

Ansel Adams, David Bailey-photographers, Leonardo da Vinci, Ignacio Gomez-muralist, Pablo Picasso-artist, Robert Rauschenberg, Auguste Rodin-sculptor, Bennett Strahan, Robert Toth, Jørn Utzon-architect (designed Sydney Opera house), Andy Warhol.

Athletes:

Muhammad Ali-World Heavyweight Champion Boxer, Duncan Goodhew-Olympic Swimmer, Bruce Jenner-Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist, Magic Johnson, Greg Louganis-Olypmic diving champion, Bob May-golfer, Diamond Dallas Page-World Wrestling Champion, Steve Redgrave-Olympic Gold Medalist (rowing), Nolan Ryan-Baseball Pitcher for the Texas Rangers, Jackie Stewart-race car driver.

Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders:

Richard Branson-Founder of Virgin Enterprises, John T Chambers-CEO of Cisco Systems, Henry Ford, William Hewlett-Co-Founder, Hewlett-Packard, Craig McCaw-Telecommunications Visionary, Paul J. Orfalea-founder of Kinko's, Charles Schwab-Investor, Ted Turner-Turner Broadcasting Systems, F.W. Woolworth

Filmmakers:

Nicole Betancourt-Emmy-winning filmmaker, Walt Disney, Søren Kragh Jacobsen-Danish film director)

Inventors & Scientists:

Ann Bancroft-Arctic Explorer, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday, Dr. James Lovelock, John R. Horner-Paleontologist, Archer Martin-Chemist (1952 Nobel Laureate), John Robert Skoyles-Brain Researcher, Werner Von Braun

Law & Justice:

David Boies-Attorney, Erin Brockovich-Investigator, Jeffrey H. Gallet-Judge

Military Heroes:

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, George Patton

Musicians & Vocalists:

Cher, Brad Little, John Lennon, Nigel Kennedy-violinist, Bob Weir-Grateful Dead guitarist

Physicians & Surgeons

Harvey Cushing-Surgeon, Fred Epstein-Neurosurgeon

Political Leaders:
Winston Churchill, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Michael Heseltine, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller, Paul Wellstone-US Senator, Woodrow Wilson, George Washington

Writers:

Hans Christian Andersen, Avi, Jeanne Betancourt-"My Name is Brain Brian", Steven Cannell-television writer & novelist, Agatha Christie, Fannie Flagg-"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe", Gustave Flaubert, Patricia Polacco-Children's Author and Illustrator, Elizabeth Daniels Squire-mystery novels, Bernie Taylor-Big Trout, Victor Villaseñor, W.B. Yeats-poet

Schizophrenia

A 17 year old girl(that would be me) was asleep in a centerpoint hostel. She was awaken by her room mate, K, who was screaing 'please no! I don't want to die!'. K was stearing in to the darkness, the darkness that seemed in some form or way to look like the devil. She was petrified. I saw it to with my very owm eyes, no I don't mean the devil.I mean I saw that K had seen tha devil. I saw the fear in her eyes. I hear the genuine cries. I thougt that K was just a bit 'hi, druged up' as I had see her smoking drugs earlier that day. A few hours later K slowly lay back in her bed and started crying. I felt scard and and confussed. Was K just a bit hi or was there somthing rong with here?

The following day K didn't talk to anyone. She looked frightened. All she did was smoke drugs and eat, crying as she did everything. K wouldn't look at me propaley bceause she thought that I thought she was mad.

Every night for the the rest of the week I was woken in the middle of the night because K was screaming one thing our another. K moved out of the hostel by the hostel at the beggining of the followig week, as she had gained a place in a better, much nicer hostel.

A year went by and I did't see or hear from K, though I did hear alot about her. I hear that she had commited a murder, I even saw her picture in the news paper, but I was later told that she had not commited it but thought she had. I also heard of her doing many strange things like tellig every one that they all had slime on their heads, talking to her self, lying on the floor crying and then not remembering what she had done, trying to kill her self and many more strange things. At first we'd all laugh and joke about it saying things like 'it's the drugs'
earlyer this year I had heard that K had been taken to a pychiatric unit after being diagosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia.

Why did K turn schizophrenic?
Some people say it was the drug. Some say it was the traumatic abuse. Other say it was a family history of mentla illness.



Schizophrenia is a range of unusual behaviors that cause alot of disruption in the lives of the people suffering from the condition and in the lives of the people around them. Back in history poeple used to thing that people suffering from schizoreia where possessed by devil and were feared, tormented, killed or locked up forever.

1 in 3 people with schizophrenia will try to kill them selfs. 10% will kill them selfs within 20 years of beig diagnosed. Scizophrienics are ore likly to substace abuese.

Sexual Abuse

She was 10. She didn't understand. She could feel it was wrong. But she was scared. It ruened her life. She blamed her self. She felt sick and dirty.

At the age of 10 an innocent girl was sexualy abused in her granmother house, by her 28 year old cousin. At first she declined and did't want to take any part because she could feel there wasn't something wrigt about it. He made he feel guilty like she had done something bad by saying 'no'. So she agreed. He touched he in places and ways that she could have never imagined at such a young age. It made her feel sick. He would kiss her and she'd feel dirty. He told her it was 'because I love you' and he also told he that 'it's our little secret'. She was confuses. 'How can he love me if he's hurting me' she'd think. This loud, confident, bubbly little girl lost all her confidents. She started to clam up around people and wouldnt saying a thing because she was in to much pain.

The abuse lasted for a few months. She didn't tell any one whilst it happened, except her mum. She said to her 'I don't want to play any more because ****** is hurting me' her mum replyed 'don't be silly why would he hurt you?'. Se never told any one from her family ever again because she thougt they may not believe her or wat they will think of her and also because she didn't want to start up family any feuds.

Even long after the abuse had stopped the girl never stop tinking about it. She would have nigtmears, this made her not want to go to sleep. She started self harming, isolated her self, and stoped talking to her family and friends. All becaue she felt dirty, guilty, ashamed, angry, afraid and powerless.



[

Out of all the girls who had been pushed into doing something sexual they didn't want to do:


nearly half (44%) had been made to feel guilty for initially saying 'no'


over a quarter (29%) remebered simply being told by the person pushing them that it was the right thing to do


1 in eight were given drink or drugs


1 in nine were concerned that rumours would be spread about them


1 in ten were threatened physically


1 in ten were actually hurt physically


1 in ten were bribed with presents or money

A total of 38% did not speak to anyone about their experience because they wanted to forget about it (30%), because they were either scared or ashamed (10%), or because they simply didn't know who to tell (11%). Of the 60% who did tell, over half preferred to confide in a friend, 4% told a brother/sister, 6% told a parent/carer, and 3% told a teacher

.](From the NSPCC website click on the title for the link)

Teen Suicide

A 16 Year old girl overdosed on 46 pills and slit her wrist in the bathroom of a Centerpoint hotel and died. She was found lying half concious on the floor sorounded by a pool of blood. She was found by a 17 year old girl.

Why did she do it? Was it because she was violently, sexualy and physcologicaly abuses as a child? Was is because her parents refused to except her sexuality and threw her out of her home and refused any means of contact with her? Or was it her becaue of her job as a prostatute, that she hated and was forced to do?















Suicide amongst teens has increase 3 time since 1970.
90% of suicide amongst teenagers had a diagnosable mental illness, depression being the most common.
In 1996 suicide was the 4th biggest killer of 10 to 14 year olds, and the 3rd biggest killer of 15 to 24 year olds.

I think that people usually kill themselves to escape from something the think they can't handle or excape from, not necesarily because they want to die.