Self-Mutilation Scars More than Just Skin
By Shae, October 2006
Self-mutilation is a topic parents often disregard as a problem only faced by someone else’s children. Most parents believe this condition could never apply to themselves, or their own children. Unfortunately, self-mutilation is widely misunderstood and most often occurs in the quiet corners of the home. One in every hundred people is found participating in some form of self-injury. That means that there is a one in a hundred chance that your teenager is suffering from some form of self-harm. The scars left from self-mutilation can mar the child’s body and spirit for the rest of their life.
Self-mutilation is also termed self-injury, self-harm, or self-abuse. The behavior is defined as the deliberate, repetitive, impulsive, non-lethal harming of one’s self. This could include, but is not limited to:
- cutting
- scratching
- eating disorders
- picking scabs or interfering with wound healing
- burning
- punching self or objects
- some forms of hair-pulling
The hardest aspect of self-mutilation to understand is why. It is hard to contemplate the amount of hurt and loneliness that would cause a human being to purposefully inflict pain upon themselves. Many self-injurers cut, scratch, and hurt themselves in a desperate attempt to feel something. In a world full of broken homes, corrupt morals, and dangerous pastimes teenagers are becoming numb. This desensitization leaves behind a hopeless yearning to laugh, to cry, or to simply feel something. Self-injury allows them to control and gratify this longing.
Self-mutilation is not an outward attempt to attract attention. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Those who suffer from this condition do their very best to disguise the injuries sustained by wearing clothes that conceal the scars, telling cover up stories, and wearing smiling faces that hide just how much pain they are experiencing.
If you are concerned about your teenager, it is time to get help. The relief gained through self-injury is temporary, and a self-destructive cycle often develops without intervention and proper treatment. The effects of self-mutilation are devastating and long lasting. Get your teenager the help he or she needs today and save them from this lonely condition.
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