Articles: Self-injury can be sign of stress
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It has been called many things - self-inflicted violence, self-injury, self-harm, self-abuse and self-mutilation.
In basic terms, self-injury is the act of attempting to alter how someone feels emotionally by inflicting physical damage to the body. This can include cutting with knives, razors, glass, pins or any sharp object; burning; hitting your body with an object or your fists; hitting a heavy object like a wall; picking at skin until it bleeds; biting yourself; or pulling your hair out.
Research shows that self-injury is a way of dealing with difficult feelings that build up inside. Anyone who is harming himself or herself is struggling to cope. If people do not get help when they need it, the situation will only get worse.
Twenty two-year-old Andres (not his real name) is familiar with this because of his own self-abuse as a teen.
"I had a lot of problems with my dad," he said. "We had a very abusive relationship."
In severe cases of self-harm, medication is necessary to control the problem. In others, therapy to teach new coping mechanisms is
effective.
If you are a parent, teacher or friend of someone who is self-abusive, you can help by doing the following:
For more information on injury prevention, call the A Su Salud office at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, (210) 567-7826.
In basic terms, self-injury is the act of attempting to alter how someone feels emotionally by inflicting physical damage to the body. This can include cutting with knives, razors, glass, pins or any sharp object; burning; hitting your body with an object or your fists; hitting a heavy object like a wall; picking at skin until it bleeds; biting yourself; or pulling your hair out.
Research shows that self-injury is a way of dealing with difficult feelings that build up inside. Anyone who is harming himself or herself is struggling to cope. If people do not get help when they need it, the situation will only get worse.
Twenty two-year-old Andres (not his real name) is familiar with this because of his own self-abuse as a teen.
"I had a lot of problems with my dad," he said. "We had a very abusive relationship."
In severe cases of self-harm, medication is necessary to control the problem. In others, therapy to teach new coping mechanisms is
effective.
If you are a parent, teacher or friend of someone who is self-abusive, you can help by doing the following:
- Recognize signs of distress and find some way of talking with the person about how they feel.
Listen to his or her concerns and take them seriously.
Stay calm and positive.
Be clear about the risks of self-harm.
Make sure that the person gets the right kind of help as soon as possible.
For more information on injury prevention, call the A Su Salud office at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, (210) 567-7826.