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Understanding Teen Self-Harm: Causes, Signs, and Solutions

Depressed teen girl

*Content/Trigger Warning: This article discusses self-harm, injury, and violence. Experiencing an overwhelming amount of emotions from mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety leads some people to harm themselves, also known as “self-harm.” While everyone processes their emotions in different ways, some people have developed unhealthy coping mechanisms to manage their feelings. What is self-harm? […]

Why do people cut themselves? Understanding teen self-harm

Self-harm can cover a range of things that people do to themselves in a deliberate and harmful way. Although cutting is the most common form of self- harm, other methods include head banging, hair pulling, burning and scalding, biting, scratching, stabbing, breaking bones, swallowing objects, self-poisoning and overdosing. By injuring themselves, children and young people are asserting a form of self- control on their life which they feel is otherwise chaotic and meaningless. Self-harm is a way of coping and of channelling frustration and other strong emotions. In the vast majority of cases, it is not a suicide attempt, but rather a way to let off steam.

Many teens struggle with anxiety and depression.  Some turn to self-harm to deal with their intense feelings. Self-harm and self-injury describe a group of behaviors in which you deliberately hurt yourself — not as a suicide attempt, but as a way to release painful emotions.  Cutting is one of the most common ways that teens […]