The percent of people self-harming themselves in the world is increasing tremendously. Research provided by “Dr. Paul Moran of King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry and George C. Patton, professor at the Center for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia” (Willingham), found out of 1,802 adolescents, eight percent of the adolescents were cutting, ten percent were girls, and 6 percent were boys. Age 15 to 24 year old girls are the ones that are most likely injuring themselves. In Dr. Moran and Dr. Patton’s studies they found “teens who experienced depression or anxiety were about six times more likely to self-harm in young adulthood than adolescents who did not suffer from these illnesses” (Willingham), leading to the doctors results of the percentage data.
Studies show that a person can become their own worst enemy just by self-harming themselves. These people turn into a person that they become scared of, someone that they never knew they would be. Dr. Carl Pickhardt states that "Self-defeating behavior prevents constructive action. Self-destructive behavior inflicts self-harm" (Pickhardt). Dr. Pickhardt has done a lot of research throughout his career of being a doctor and he performed many “tests” on a variety of ages of adolescences to understand why they were self-harming themselves. Dr. Pickhardt states that"Self-defeating behavior prevents constructive action. Self-destructive behavior inflicts self-harm" (Pickhardt). Ages 9-13 had failing grades and they were seeking the attention of friends. Ages 13-15 struggled with building relationships with their family or friends. Seeking the attention of having a relationship with friends became their main priority. Also they ...
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...l, when she would furtively scratch herself with scissors”(Seligson). When she would cut herself, she would feel some sense of release and any pain “as she patted the pooling blood with gauze” (Seligson), but that still did not make all her brokenness go away. Sarah was surrounded by other ways of self-harming herself, there was drinking, smoking, and doing drugs. Drinking, smoking, and doing drugs are all contributors to self-harm. People may not think they are because someone is not physically taking a razor to their wrist/arm to slice it.
The people in the world like to believe that celebrities are these perfect people and that they have the perfect lives. Not every celebrity has that “perfect life”. For 19 year old Demi Lovato, she does not have the perfect life. She tends to appear that way, but in recent discoveries, Lovato opened up about cutting herself.
First, some people harm themselves simply because they can. A friend of Callie’s, Amanda, cuts herself and said to Callie, “Listen, I don’t see how what I do is so different from people who get their tongues pierced. Or their lips. Or their ears, for Chrissakes. It’s my body” (McCormick 37). She doesn’t see the harm in hurting herself which is why teaching this book could tell teenagers that this isn’t the path to go down and that there are other alternatives. She thinks that this is normal and a way to cope with her problems on a day-to-day basis. Amanda is one of the 1,400 out of 100,000, and growing, people who admitted to self-injury (Kennedy). Secondly, some people self-injure to cope with their feelings and tensions. Callie explains to her therapist about her father’s job situation and said, “’Now he just sells to companies nearby.’ I don’t tell you [her therapist] about how it seems like all the companies nearby already have computers, that for a while he took people out hoping they’d become customers and that now he mostly just goes out. ‘He has to work a lot’” (McCormick 111). Callie explained how her fathers situation seemed to cause her a lot of stress and how she seemed worried for him. To add, “some reasons why teens self-injure include: release of tension and feeling overwhelmed” (Styer). This is a lesson that could be taught in
Demi Lovato is more than just a famous actress and singer. She has dedicated much of her time to her fans. Everyone faces their own battles and have their own insecurities, yet she inspires her fans to embrace and overpower them. She not only uses her vocals for singing, she uses it to reach out to her fans. In terms of sales (music and concert), advocating mental health, and philanthropy, Demi Lovato has changed the meaning of the music industry.
Self-injury is common in children between the ages of 13-17, but it occurs as young as 7. One in every ten kids will self-harm at some point. Even though it’s most common in teens, it can still happen at any age. It is estimated that about two million people in the U.S. self harm. Most teenagers or young adults with women outnumbering the men.
Demi Lovato is a famous singer, songwriter, and actor born in 1992 in New Mexico. Although she was on “Barney & Friends” as a child, most people know her from her years as an actress and an occasional singer on disney channel. She co-starred in the famous movie series “Camp Rock” and also in the television series “Sonny with a Chance.” After these acting positions, Lovato began a career in singing. She has released many albums and has had many hit songs such as “Heart Attack” and “Cool for the Summer.” In 2012 and 2013, Lovato was a judge on “The X Factor” (Wikipedia). Singing is a huge part of Lovato’s life, and she pours her heart and should into her lyrics.
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.
There are many things which can drive a teen to commit suicide some of them are as simple as making fun of the “fat” kid in class; others can come from the mental images from witnessing a shooting. There are four major issues which contribute to teen suicide such as depression, family problems, risk factors, and teens reactions to there climate. Depression, unfortunately, is one of the biggest factors of today’s teenage suicide problems and some of the reasons for it are from the student’s own peers, “being depressed is triggered by loss or rejection (Joan 59).” Depression can be f...
There are many cases where girls and boys hurt themselves because they are insecure about themselves. They feel too ugly or too fat. These kinds of people live in depression. They do not feel good about themselves. People like this tend to harm their bodies. The fact that they become depressed makes it even worse. One good example is Bulimia nervosa. It is an eating disorder where the person eats and tries to take it back as soon as they can. This is mainly caused by lack of confidence. The person probably feels like they are fat. Many other kids cut themselves due to lack of self-love. Another good example is if you are being bullied. Being bullied really hurts feelings it makes you feel like you are not good enough. There are tons of kids who are depressed due to the fact that they are being bullied constantly. Many times kids stay like this and do not speak up because they are afraid. However they are only making it worse. They live by depression every day. Anyone can stand up and put a stop to bulling. I’m very confident that if you put an end to being bullied you’ll also put an end to the depression you suffer. Depression can influence our actions. We must love our selves. God mad us all different but we are all beautiful in our own ways. We must love our bodies and treat them as
...harm has sky rocketed and needs to be addressed immediately. In addition, as I covered towards the beginning of the core assessment, the important variables and culprits on suicide and self-harm include psychological, family, and social problems in society. In my personal opinion, the media outlets need to contain on what they report in reference to teenager suicide. With all the solutions and treatment plans I mentioned in this assessment, there is very minimal evidence of the effectiveness. The major challenges I foresee in the future for this ongoing problem include the understanding and comprehension of adolescent suicide in addition to the contributors. Identifying preventative measures aimed at young teens considered a high risk and the effective treatment options are challenges that are difficult, yet; very attainable with a collective effort from everyone.
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
Shaffer, D. (1988). The epidemiology of teen suicide: An examination of Risk Factors. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 36-41. PMID 3047106.
Self-mutilation is the deliberate, direct destruction or alteration of one’s body without suicidal intent. It is meant to be a way of coping with one’s emotions and to calm the hatred and rage within oneself. Before recent studies, it was thought to be a crazy, masochist act and although self-mutilators tend to have some psychological disorders they are no longer considered crazy. Due to these recent studies, there are also many ways to help stop and overcome self-mutilation.
Causes of self-harm are categorized into three groups: social, emotional, and psychological factors. Social factors are the influence of people around us. Research states that this is the most common cause of self-harm. Why? That is because teenage is the period where all hunts for attention and acceptance from society. When we fail to receive those two, we begin to feel rejected and peer-pressured. Social factors includes difficult relationships at school or home, being bullied, the death of someone close, and alcohol or drug abuse. The second familiar reason is emotions, which are based on a distress from unhappy or traumatic experience and can allow someone to feel numb or empty, anger, guilt, anxiety, and unworthy. This tense distress can gradually build up and is likely to lead into self-hatred or low self-esteem. There are some, occasional cases where one’s psychology becomes...
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. .
Some say that the teenage years are one of the most challenging and trying times in an individual’s life. Many changes take place, both emotionally and physically, which sometimes can give the feeling of excitement… or in other cases… complete confusion and utter turmoil. Because emotions tend to run high during this period of life due to hormones, some teens resort to an unhealthy way of coping to deal with their emotional pain. This unhealthy way of dealing with emotional pain is also known as self injury. Self injury (or self harm) is widely known to take place during the teenage years up until the early years of adulthood (ages 14-24)when judgments become more defined, criticism becomes harsher, and limits are tested. The transition from childhood to adulthood may sound exciting and adventurous to some, but to others, it’s a nightmare they wish they could wake up from.
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain” (I-10). Ending a life is a big step in the wrong direction for most. Suicide is the killing of oneself. Suicide happens every day, and everyday a family’s life is changed. Something needs to be done to raise awareness of that startling fact. Suicide is a much bigger problem than society will admit; the causes, methods, and prevention need to be discussed more openly.