Self-injury - ...An attempt to make the outside match the inside... - Health - http://www.woodrecords.com/elliesownpage/Self

Self-injury and eating disorders go hand-in-hand. In one article, I read that as many as 75% of the eating disordered also suffer from some form of self-injury. Lately, this trend of injuring oneself has becoming more and more prone, especially in teenagers.

Self-injury can take form in many ways:

Cutting (72%)
Carving (words or shapes into skin)
Branding
Marking
Picking at scabs/disrupting the healing process (22%)
Biting
Burning (35%)
Bruising
Head-banging
Hitting (30%)
Hair pulling (10%)
Breaking of ones own limb (VERY VERY uncommon)

Why?
The reasons why someone may chose to self-mutilate are as different as each individual fingerprint. Some may do it to escape from how they feel: worthless, hopeless, sad, scared, overwhelmed, or suicidal. Others may do it to rebel from authority or claim their individuality. I did it because I felt the need to make the outside of me match what I was feeling on the inside.

Self-injurers tend to be people who:

strongly dislike themselves
are overly sensitive (especially to critisism and rejection)
have a tendency to keep emotions bottled inside
are very impulsive, and lack coping skills
live in the moment, and what will suit them the best right then
are very angry, at themselves or someone else
are depressed and suicidal/self-destructive
suffer from anxiety
tend to isolate themselves from the comfort and support of others
lack the coping skills to deal with the past

Usually, someone with SI (self-injury) behaviors suffer from some other kind of mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, Bipolar disorder, borderline personality, and physcosis. They are often victims of abuse (sexual, physical, or verbal). The issues behind the SI needs to be dealt with before the SI will go away.

Therapy & Recovery
In order to help someone with SI, the therapist MUST understand the reasons behind the behaviors. Is it to relieve stress and tension? To help them forget about a flashback? Whatever the issues are behind the behavior, it must be dealt with intensively.

New coping skills need to be developed. Coping skills If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself, and feel that the only way to ease the pain is to do that, then try some of the following:

Squeezing ice
Hot bath/shower
Cold bath/shower
Eating something hot or strongly flavored(peppers, lemon, lime, etc)

There are strategies only to be used in a crisis moment. Using these methods are often helpful during the first stages of stopping the SI cycle. Later on when you feel that you are gaining better control over it, but still have the impulses, some other things to try include:

Playing on the computer
Punching a pillow
Crying
Draw on yourself with a red pen (but don't puncture the skin)
Take a bath
Excersize

Fighting the urges to self-injure is hard, but with patients and newfound coping skills, it can be done. Find someone that you can talk to and share your feelings with. Seek professional help. And most of all, take care of YOU!

Take a peek into the mind of the sufferers...
Kailyn's Story with self-inury.

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Ellie

United States

help4eds@yahoo.com

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Page Updated Sun Aug 12, 2001 11:20pm EDT