The Suicide And Self Injury

Self-harm: This is the type of abuse where someone causes deliberate pain to themselves with intentions that they definitely will harmed whatever they decide to do. It can be self-harming (cutting themselves), jumping from a height or playing with fire. It could be having an intake of substances that will cause harm to internal organs or having an intake of a recreational drug to cause harm to themselves. It could also be that they are neglecting themselves too. For example, not taking showers, not eating, not drinking, not dressing for the appropriate weather.

In Tony Dokoupil’s article about “the suicide epidemic” He talks about how suicide is the highest rate of “injury death” in the US and how the CDC believes that is surpasses the number of deaths from car crashes. He also goes on to quote Ralph Nader saying, “we have become our own greatest danger” (par 16). Suicidal thoughts and tendencies are also a heightened risk that could lead to serious injury or even death. For some self harm could be severely cutting or scratching their skin as well as burning or puncturing their skin with foreign objects, but others slam themselves into walls, hit things, or bang their head against something. All these things could be potentially dangerous because of the risk of brain damage, broken bones, and severe bleeding. Each of these things could either cause death, or hospitalization. Sometimes people also get addicted to self harm the way others get addicted to nicotine or drugs, if they go for long periods of time without hurting themselves in a way they deem fit they start going into withdrawals. However physical risks aren’t the only types of

Research shows people engage in self-harm behind closed doors more often than one would imagine. Janis Whitlock a phd and psychologist, discovered in her research for the Cornell Research Program On Self-injury and Recovery, that self-inflicted harm is in fact, common. The article titled, “Who Self Injures?”, make that case prevalent that self-harm is common by drawing on the research of Whitlock and several other researchers’ findings and statistics on the subject. This article defines the type of self-injury that researchers have focused on, who typically engages in self-injury, and why they do.

Muehlenkamp and Gutierrez (2004 p.12) define self-harming behavior as” the deliberate destruction or alteration of body tissue without suicidal intent.” The distinct made from suicide and self-harming behavior is by definition whereas self-harming behavior is a life preserving action and suicide is an end to life action. The contributing factor may be the individual’s values and beliefs on life and death.

The primary treatment objective is for the client to begin to tolerate time between the initial impulse to self-injure and the implementation of Self-Injurious Behavior, which is referred to as the window of opportunity. During this time, it is important for the client to recognize and tolerate the emotion and to focus on making a choice to self-injure or not. As clients learn to do this successfully, the window of opportunity should be increased. As clients become comfortable with this time, alternatives to self-injury should be explored, such as postponement tactics and other means of expression (Crowe & Bunclark, 2000). The goal is for the client to use the growing window of opportunity to identify feelings and thoughts and to utilize alternative coping skills (Conterio et al.,

Suicide has many warning signs. Some signs are depressed, suddenly happy, change in eating or sleeping, withdraw from family or friends, give away their stuff, and obsessed with death. But one major warning sign is self-harm or known as cutting. It's where a person takes a razor blade or anything sharp and cut themselves on the arm, leg, or body part. It's a major cause because cutting could lead to death if you cut too deep. So if you

“Self-injury appears to reduce the individual's level of emotional and physiological arousal to a tolerable level, and the internal chaos is temporarily soothed. Thus, the physical injuries may seem a small price to pay to escape from the ‘raging inferno inside’. The reality of the individual’s actions starts to sink in. Shame, guilt, self-disgust or self-hate may rekindle the smouldering embers. Because the underlying issues remain locked up inside and unresolved, the cycle continues unless change is effected.”

Self mutilation, banging, self harm, cutting, burning, self injury—these are words used to describe the action of nonsuicidal self injury (NSSI). NSSI is currently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-The Fifth Edition (DSM-V) under the categories of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and topics for further study. In BPD, NSSI is considered a symptom of the disorder itself. In the category of topics for further study, a set of diagnostic criteria is given, as if was classified as a mental disorder; however, the criteria is not intended for clinical use and may only be used to conduct research on the topic. Topics under this category are usually on their way to becoming a classified mental disorder but do not have quite enough clinical research and information yet to actually become a diagnosis. NSSI should become a complete diagnosis because diagnoses lead to comprehensive treatment and understanding of the illness, better insurance coverage for those with the illness, and social enlightenment about the illness.

The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) uses the term non suicidal self-injury. Self-injury is defined as “intentional self inflicted damage to the surface of his or her body of a sort likely to induce bleeding, bruising, or pain, with the expectation that the injury will lead to only minor or moderate physical harm”(American psychiatric Association, 2013,p803). There must be an absence of suicidal intent; this is either stated by the patient, or determined by the fact that the method of harm is not likely to result in death. Although often misunderstood and seen as an attention seeking more

Craig gets admitted into the hospital and calls his parents to tell them where he is. When Craig explains to his parents that he was suicidal they were hurt and broken. Knowing that their own child wanted to kill himself because he was depressed hurt them. Craig’s mom immediately begins to feel guilty, blaming herself for the situation. When Craig explains that he had called the suicide hotline and came to the hospital to check himself in, his mom says: “This is the bravest thing you’ve ever done”(pg.160). Knowing that her own son wanted to die hurt her a lot, but knowing that he was strong enough to be able to come to the hospital alone proved to her that she raised him the right way. Her initial reaction to Craig’s decision wasn’t disappointment

It was also suggested that some people self harm as a way of communicating or expressing things they cannot speak. It is suggested when self abuse is used in this mannor it is considered manipulative an attempt at getting a need met or to influence another. If this is the case it is important for the therapist to listen to what that need is and to help the individual satisfy that need in a constructive and effective manner

I used to be a cutter… but shh, don’t tell. Society didn't allow me to express my pain that way…Today’s society refuses to acknowledge many problems that teens deal with. People would rather believe in ‘happily ever after’ than face the truth, children are suffering. While it may seem to others that the problems are made up, its very real to the one dealing with them everyday. This suffering can leave permanent scars, and damage (if not ruin) their future. By remaining ignorant, self harm becomes more and more common, but at what cost? If educators and medical personnel were to be more educated on self harm and how to deal with it, teens and young adults would be more comfortable asking for help. Getttig rid of the stereotypes that

"I lower the blade to the…inside of my arm…I quickly make a two inch slash. I know not to go too deep. And when I’m in control…I can do it just right. And just like that, I’m done. I hardly feel the pain of the cut at all. It’s like it doesn’t even hurt” (Elliott). This might sound harsh more a majority of people, but out of one and twelve teenagers this is a reality. Cutting or also known as self-harm are behaviors in which a person injures his or her own body. The behaviors these people are acting upon are usually not suicide attempts. A few examples are self-harm include head banging, burning, pulling hair, and cutting. This very bad and addictive activity that is pretty quiet and known. What a lot of people do not know is why people start

A useful definition of self-harm is from Professor Keith Hawton (Hawton et al., 2006. p29). An act with a non-fatal outcome in which an individual deliberately did one or more of the following;

Self-harm also known as self-injury, self-abuse, self-mutilation occurs when someone internationally and repeatedly harms herself/himself in a way that is impulsive and not intended to be lethal. “Self harm, often referred to as cutting”. Cutting is an self-injurious behavior where a student uses a sharp object such as: a razor blade and a knife to inflict physical pain. Although cutting is one of the most common and well documented forms, there are many things people do to hurt themselves (Bells 1). Self-harming behavior can include variety of methods of self injury (pearlman 1). Studies have documented over 16 forms of self-injury and there may well be more than that (Bells 1). Most common methods are scratching, burning, carving, hitting, punching or pulling out hair. Self-injury can be and is performed on any part of the body, but most often occurs on the hands, wrists, stomach and thighs. The severity of the act can vary from superficial wounds to those resulting in lasting disfigurement (Bells