Table of Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 Types of Self Injury 3
3 Risk Factors 3
3.1 Childhood Risk Factors 3
3.2 Adult Risk Factors 3
3.3 Co-existing Medical Conditions 3
4 Complications 4
4.1 Medical Complications 4
4.2 Emotional Complications 4
4.3 Practical Complications 4
5 Presentation and Diagnosis 4
6 Prevention and Management 5
6.1 Medical Management 5
6.2 Therapeutical Management 5
6.3 Psychiatric Management 5
7 Conclusion 5
8 References 6
9 Help and Support 6
1. Introduction
Self-injury is a term which describes a variety of behaviours in which there are two critical elements: the damage is acute and the damage is intentional. Self injury is generally an unhealthy effort to cope with overwhelming emotions, such as intense anger, rage, terror or shame. There is often a distinction made by psychiatrists between attempted suicide and self-injury as these acts are most often done without suicidal intent. The damage caused is generally severe enough to leave a bruise, scar or other mark, or cause health issues.
2. Types of self injury
Self injury includes, but is not limited to, cutting, burning, branding, overdosing, bone breaking, interfering with wound healing, scratching, biting, hair pulling (Trichotillomania) and puncturing the skin. It may also include eating disorders, excessive drinking and drug use, although these are disputed by some physicians.
3. Risk factors
3.1 Childhood risk factors
Sexual abuse
Neglect
Emotional abuse
Physical abuse
Loss or separation
Parental mental health issues
Parental substance abuse
3.2 Adult risk factors
Rape or sexual abuse
Psychiatric diagnoses
Substance misuse
Absence of emotional support
Intense and distressing emotions
3.3 Co-existing m...
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Royal College of Psychiatrists College Report CR 158: Self-harm, suicide and risk: helping people who self-harm (2010)
Suicide and deliberate self-harm in young people (2005). Hawton, K. & James, A., BMJ, 330, p.891-894
In what way are adolescents who engage in self-harm, or experience thoughts of self-harm, different in terms of help-seeking, communications and coping strategies? (2005). Evans, E., Hawton, K. & Rodham, K., Journal of Adolescence, 28, p.573-587
intentional injuries ....When someone decides they don't like you and walk up to you and punch you in the nose.
Self-harm, or self-mutilation, is the intentional action of harming oneself, generally without the intent to kill. It is estimated that over two million people self-harm in the United States alone (Pomere). When involved with depression, self-harm is generally used as a method of coping with stress and various feelings that they may be having. If depression manifests with feelings of inadequacies, one could feel like they deserve to be injured (Bartha). Over time, the act of self-injury could become an addiction. It could become an obsession (Pomere).
Murphy, E., Kapur, N., Webb, R., & Cooper, J. (2011). Risk assessment following self-harm: comparison of mental health nurses and psychiatrists. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 67(1), 127-139. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05484.x
Most often, the cause of people self harming is depression, PTSD, or others serious medical conditions. These people feel like they are going nowhere in life and that they cannot find any relief, so they cut them self. Cutting may seem pointless to some, but to these people who self harm, its not, its what keeps them alive. They are add...
Wong, S., Zhou, B., Goebert, D., & Hishinuma, E. (2013). The risk of adolescent suicide
He concludes that after all, if tomorrow never comes there is no use of living anymore and he might as well try everything, therefore he attempts to commit suicide. According to WebMD, injury to self happens when people feel they are overwhelm or depressed. It can also be an act of rebellion or rejection, a way of individualizing oneself. Sufferers may feel that self-injury is a way of temporarily relieving intense feelings, pressure, or anxiety (“What is Self-Injury Disorder?”). Phil’s suicide attempts all failed even though each attempt results in his death. Two of Phil’s suicide attempts involves him filling his bathtub with water and dumping an activated toaster in the tub and drunk driving off the overlook into a quarry, killing himself and the
Why do people hurt themselves? In a journal article from the American Journal of Psychotherapy, Louise Ruberman notes that about 2.1 million teens suffer from nonsuicidal self-injury, or NSSI. Young women between the ages of 14 and 18 years old take part in NSSI due to poor development of the relationship with their mothers, childhood abuse, and psychiatric disorders. Although there are multiple ways of causing injury to oneself, cutting of the skin as a means of self-mutilation is said to be the most common (Ruberman 119). We will start out by examining the problems that occur during the relationship development between a mother and a daughter at a young age.
Youth take their own lives for a plethora of reasons, although none of these reasons should actually constitute an attempt at suicide. What is it then, that brings a teen to commit suicide? What factors lead to suicidal tendencies on the part of the adolescent? The enigma of youth suicide is multidimensional. As we will discover herein, the major theories on youth suicide can be categorized into three fundamental causes. Adolescent suicide is the result of one, or a...
Growing up I always found a way to injure myself, not intentionally, but I was able to acquire some type of injury. The injuries tended to range from obtaining stitches from falling on a cabinet to jamming a finger playing a sport. With injuries, came individuals (i.e. doctors, nurses) willing to help me pull through the injury as I would do the same for them if they were injured. These aspects of my life have led me to the career path of a Physical Therapist. One of the many elements which draws me to this field of work, is that I enjoy science and learning the ways of the body as it is extremely fascinating to observe how all of the bodily functions work together.
Some ways of self harm are pinching, cutting, starving, carving, scratching, pulling, and hitting oneself (young minds). Most people that don’t really understand say that it is from attention but to be honest teens self harm to take the pain from their hearts. Some teens may self harm because it is something they have control over (young minds). Some teens self harm to make sense of the pain that is happing in their lives (self harm).
Wilkinson P, Kelvin R, Roberts C, Dubika B, Goodyer I (2011) “Clinical & Psychosocial Predictors of Suicide Attempts and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in the Adolescents Depression, Anti-Depressants & Psychotherapy Trial (ADAPT)” The American Journal of Psychiatry 168(5) page 495-501
Styer, Denise M. "An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide." Prevention Researcher Integrated Research Services, Inc., Vol. 13, Supplement. Dec. 2006: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Self injury can take on many forms ranging from the littlest and minor to the major and obscure. There are three categories for self injury: major self-injury, stereotyp...
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, scientific evidence has shown that almost all people who take their own lives have a diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, and the majority have more than one disorder. In other words, the feelings that often lead to suicide are highly treatable. That’s why it is imperative that we better understand the symptoms of the disorders and the behaviors that often accompany thoughts of suicide. With more knowledge, we can often prevent the devastation of losing a loved one.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Print. The. Suicide and Suicidal Behaviors. Suicide : Medline Plus.