Do You Have A Self-Injury (Cutting) Problem?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Nancy L. Brown, PhD
Self-injury is a behavior people rely on to relieve or distract themselves from difficult feelings, or to communicate emotions that they seem unable to speak. Once people learn to express themselves in other ways – verbally, or in writing – the impulse to harm the self subsides. The unpleasant feelings may not go away, but the coping mechanism becomes a healthy one.The first step is to acknowledge that you have a problem, and that you are not alone. Self-injury is a choice and you can choose to not injure yourself. I am not saying it will be easy - in fact, people say it is harder to stop than cigarette smoking. The important thing is that you can do it, with help! It will take work, but you can live without self-injury.
To help you decide if you have a problem, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you cut or burn your skin habitually?
- Do you feel compulsively drawn to cut, pierce, or burn your skin?
- Do you get “high” from the way the activity feels physically?
- Does the behavior consume your thoughts or interfere with your ability to function normally?
- Realistically, could you stop the behavior today if you wanted to?
- Do you use cutting, burning, piercing, compulsively exercising, or any other self-injurious behavior as your primary method of releasing internal tension or distress?
- Is your self-injuring behavior “ritualized,” meaning it must be done in a certain way, and more frequently?
- If you do not self-injure do you panic, get disorganized, or distressed?
Please take the first step and reach out for help!
Photo Credit: violater3
Labels: Healthline, Mental Health, Self-Injury
6 Comments:
At Thu Jun 05, 05:36:00 AM 2008,
troubled teen program said…
Sorry guys, I ain't the one. But this is a good article! Thanks for the post.
At Thu Mar 12, 04:27:00 PM 2009,
rockkidemo said…
i'm a "cutter".. but my parents think that im just experimenting... i don;t get why they cant see why i do it..but my friends want to helo me.. i want help
At Thu Mar 19, 11:51:00 AM 2009,
Nancy L. Brown, PhD said…
Please call the number above and ask for help! You are not alone and the sooner you get help - the better!
As parents sometimes denial is more comfortable for us - especially when we do not understand something. Ultimately, you are responsible for choosing to heal - please do not wait for them!
At Fri Mar 27, 12:00:00 PM 2009,
beyondscars7 said…
Hi...I encourage all teens and young women who are struggling with self-injury to get help as soon as they can. Self-injury is an unhealthy coping mechanism and becomes a cycle of addiction, self-injury is a cry for help NOT for attention.
Contact: 888-HOPE-307 or www.doorofhope4teens.com
Great article and thanks for bringing
awareness to self harm.
At Mon Mar 30, 11:37:00 AM 2009,
Nancy L. Brown, PhD said…
Please note readers, the Door of Hope is a Christian Counseling Service - Just FYI!
At Thu Jul 09, 05:35:00 AM 2009,
Debra said…
Hi...We at Door of Hope 4 Teens have spoken with over 150 young women from all over the US , Canada and the UK...most have struggled with self-injury for many years...the problem is not the cutting as much as the root cause to WHY? do you cut? what causes those triggers in your mind to want to hurt yourself. A message to all is there is HOPE and someone does care...you are not alone....reach out today and start to recover.....Thanks..Door of Hope Team Counselor
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