^ Goths 'more likely to self harm' ^

punk_rock_rachy · 29-06-2006, 04:05 AM

Ohhhhhhhhhhh nvm I get what you mean now =)

Notex · 29-06-2006, 04:15 AM

Lol nice internet jargon.. despite the fact im not a goth i totally disagree, gothics are labeled because of the way they dress and the music they listen to.. it isnt just because the way they act.
What about the 1000s of so called "normal" teenagers that self halm every day.. It isnt because of their label that they self halm its because of events happening in their lives. So think twice next time when you decide to label a group of self harming when you dont understand the matters that are happening in other peoples lives.

sarey · 29-06-2006, 04:23 AM

Their. Thats what i wos thinking but i decided to explain WHY and why its so hard too stop. - Addictive

punk_rock_rachy · 29-06-2006, 04:39 AM

Self Harm

Hey there guys. Lately, I have seen several 'self-harming' threads on this forum, about teenagers who have hurt themselves on deliberate to try and relieve pain, make themselves feel better, attention etc. by perhaps slitting their wrists etc. Therefore, in this post I am basically going to try and sum up self-harming for you, and explain why people do it, why you shouldn;t and the help self-harmers can get, so I hope you find it useful.

What is self harm?

It's called many things -- self-inflicted violence, self-injury, self-harm, parasuicide, delicate cutting, self-abuse, self-mutilation. Basically, self harm is the act of attempting to change a mood state by inflicting physical harm serious enough to cause tissue damage to one's body.

Approximately 1% of the United States population uses physical self-injury as a way of dealing with overwhelming feelings or situations, often using it to speak when no words will come.

How common is self harm?

Although it may not actually be obvious to you, or your not aware of it, it has been proved that more than one in 10 adolescents have deliberately harmed themselves. The study, commissioned by the Samaritans and conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research at Oxford University, found youngsters were more likely to harm themselves if they had friends who had already done so. Each year in the UK more than 24,000 teenagers are admitted to hospital after deliberately harming themselves.

What are examples of self harm behavior?

The forms and severity of self harm can vary, although the most commonly seen behavior is:

cutting

burning

head-banging

Other forms of self-injurious behavior include:

carving

scratching

branding

marking

burning/abrasions

biting

bruising

hitting

picking/pulling skin and hair.

It's not self-injury if the primary purpose is:

sexual gratification

body decoration (e.g., body piercing, tattooing)

spiritual enlightenment via ritual

fitting in or being cool

Why does self harming make some people feel better?

It reduces physiological and psychological tension rapidly.
Studies have suggested that when people who self-injure get emotionally overwhelmed, an act of self-harm brings their levels of psychological and physiological tension and arousal back to a bearable baseline level almost immediately. In other words, they feel a strong uncomfortable emotion, don't know how to handle it (indeed, often do not have a name for it), and know that hurting themselves will reduce the emotional discomfort extremely quickly. They may still feel bad (or not), but they don't have that panicky jittery trapped feeling; it's a calm bad feeling.

Some people never get a chance to learn how to cope effectively.
One factor common to most people who self-injure, whether they were abused or not, is invalidation. They were taught at any early age that their interpretations of and feelings about the things around them were bad and wrong. They learned that certain feelings weren't allowed. In abusive homes, they may have been severely punished for expressing certain thoughts and feelings. At the same time, they had no good role models for coping. You can't learn to cope effectively with distress unless you grow up around people who are coping effectively with distress. Although a history of abuse is common about self-injurers, not everyone who self-injures was abused. Sometimes invalidation and lack of role models for coping are enough, especially if the person's brain chemistry has already primed them for choosing this sort of coping.

Self-punishment (either because they believe they deserve punishment for either having good feelings or being an "evil" person or because they hope that self-punishment will avert worse punishment from some outside source.

I think that I may self harm then. Cos I bang my head off my wall when I cry. I pull at my hair when I am annoyed and I scratch myself. Ok I didn't even know that I self harmed :|:|

Edited by Craig[Forum Moderator]: No swearing please,even if it is just starred out, thanks!

Notex · 29-06-2006, 04:48 AM

Did you ask permission to steal that information? You just copied it from a website right.. i dont believe you or any of us are qualified to speak about a sensitive matter lets leave that to the professionals and teachers of the teens involved in self harm.

punk_rock_rachy · 29-06-2006, 05:15 AM

I am involved in self harm.

I do it...according to that info.

And some of my mates do it :|

So I am involved lawl.

And the whole thing confuses me.

xx