Synthesis Essay On Self Harm

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Recommended: Suicide among youths introduction

Harming one’s self has been gaining more and more traction amongst the teenage demographic these past few decades, and as the subject is considered morbid to talk about, rarely does a person who self harms seek help to get the treatment they need. Critical thinking, a skill we learned about during our FAS courses this semester, is to be applied while dealing with this matter, by assessing the situation at hand, evaluating the reasons why teenagers self-destruct and eventually drawing a conclusion about the subject. In the first chapter of this book, the author aims to help the reader differentiate between self-harm and suicidal behavior, while tackling all the burning questions the reader might have in the process. To familiarize the reader …show more content…

Humans are born with an innate aversion to pain and suffering, yet these teenagers cut themselves or bang their heads against walls (12) causing great damage to themselves in the process, which seems to go against their very essence as human beings. Fitzpatrick relied on a few studies that collected data on why some young people harm themselves (e.g. Sullivan 2004), and she concluded that even though the reasons are quite diverse, they all seem to converge on 4 major points. Teenagers harm themselves to either numb the mental pain for a short while, or to punish themselves, a minority admitted doing it to let others know how bad they were feeling, and some say they truly don’t know why they did …show more content…

If a teenager is rushed to an emergency room following DSH, the priority is given to physical aid first during which doctors address all the issues that are wrong with the adolescent’s body. Once they can get back on their feet, mental assessment follows, and through a thorough and oftentimes invasive interview with the patient, his parents his close friends and surroundings, professionals attempt to assess the gravity of the situation so that they can advise the parents on how to manage their child at home and how to avoid any repetition of this incident. The author of the book, Carol Fitzpatrick, is consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who has accumulated over 30 years of experience working with young individuals suffering from mental health problems. Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry at University College Dublin, UK, she co-founded the SPACE program, an acclaimed and award-winning support program for guardians of self-harming or suicidal

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