Noah Rasmussen Cutting, burning, and other self-harming behaviors are becoming an increasing concern among the adolescent population, mostly young women. It is estimated that at least 1 in 5 adolescents engage in self-harm, but the numbers are likely much, much higher. Joan, a high school student from New York City, admitted to experiencing relief upon cutting, followed shortly by remorse. "I had this Popsicle stick and carved it into a sharp point and scratched myself", she says. "I'm not even sure where the idea came from. I just knew it was something people did. I remember crying a lot and thinking, Why did I just do that? I was kind of scared of myself...I would do it for five to 15 minutes, and afterward I didn't have that terrible feeling. I could go on with my day." Blue, another former self-harmer, believes that self-harm is on the rise due to glamorization in pop culture. "Nowadays a lot of younger girls especially are influenced by various media, where this whole self-harm thing is glamorized...I was hospitalized, and it was strange: A lot of other girls were impressed by my scars, like, 'How did you get those? I'm jealous.' It's disturbing, this gratification – like, people who I guess feel good or happy when they do it." "It used to be this kind of behavior was confined to the very severely impaired, people with histories of sexual abuse, with major body alienation," says Marlborough Mass. psychologist Barent Walsh. "Then, suddenly, it morphed into the general population, to the point where it was affecting successful kids with money. That's when the research funding started to flow, and we've gotten a better handle on what's happening." In a study of 800 adolescent patients, a team of doctors at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York discovered that adolescents who were provided with dialectical behavioral therapy spent less time on both suicide watch and hospital stays by two weeks on average compared to adolescents who were not treated with DBT. Whether your dealing with stress, sadness, anger, or overstimulation, self-harm is one of the most destructive forms of discipline one can receive. The fact that this mostly occurs among young women, a segment of the population long marginalized and objectified, makes this even more disturbing. I was browsing New York Times when I came across an article that made this come to my realization. I hope spreading the word of this study will increase the public attention of this issue as well as decrease any and all stigma associated with it. Carey, B. (2019, November 11). Getting a Handle on Self-Harm. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/health/self-harm-injury-cutting-psychology.html https://www.amazon.com/Skeleteen-Large-Bloody-Knife-Realistic/dp/B07J5VD9JC
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