Self-injury is a sensitive topic, and self-injurious behavior is widely misunderstood by almost everyone, including professionals. It is important to know that cutting is not the only form of self-injurious behavior, others include: burning, scratching, head-banging, over-dose (pill taking), and self-embedding (placing objects under the skin.) Other widely held assumptions by the public are: people who self-injure are suicidal, people who self-injure are attention-seeking, if the wounds are not that bad it is not that serious, people who self-injure could stop if they wanted to, and if a person self-injures they have a Borderline Personality Disorder.
People who self-injure are usually just trying to cope with their current pain. This leads directly into the next myth; self-injury is done purposely to seek attention. Self-injury is used as a coping mechanism as opposed to an attention seeking behavior. In fact, most people desperately try to cover up their wounds, and they experience feelings of shame and guilt surrounding the self-injurious behavior.
In the United States, the number of reported self-injury cases is on the rise especially in adolescents. Self-Injury is a subject that requires more attention and more understanding by mental health professionals and the general public, as to not shame or guilt people who self-injure even further.
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Self-injury is a sensitive subject to approach, but it is of utmost importance to ensure that the person engaging in self-injury is not put down or shamed for their behavior. It is most likely that they are just trying to cope with a difficult situation or feeling, and shame themselves enough already. If your teenager or a loved one is engaging in self-injury it is beneficial for them get treatment as soon as possible so they have a safe place to share their feelings. What you can do for your teenager or loved one is to let them know that you are available to listen to them with out judgment. Do not ask them why they have resorted to self-injury and try not to minimize what they are going through. Instead encourage them to discuss their feelings with you or a mental health professional so that their emotions can be expressed in a healthy way.
Open Paths offers services on a sliding-scale basis depending on your net income. The mission is to provide affordable, accessible treatment to the community in English and Spanish. If you are dealing with issues that might be helped through talk therapy go to http://openpaths.org.
