Teens: Cutting and Self-Injury - page 13

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How Serious a Problem Are Cutting and Self-Injury Among Teens?
“ Since many acts of self-harm do not come to the atten-
tion of healthcare services, hospital attendance rates
do not reflect the true scale of the problem.”
—Steven Walker, Responding to Self-Harm in Children and Adolescents. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley, 2012, p. 15.
Walker is a psychotherapist from the United Kingdom.
“ Although some teenagers may feel like the steam in
the pressure cooker has been released following the
act of harming themselves, others may feel hurt, an-
ger, fear and hate.”
—American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “Facts for Families: Self-Injury in Adolescents,” July 2013.
www.aacap.org .
The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry represents nearly nine
thousand child and adolescent psychiatrists.
“ Many people who self-harm feel that their behaviour
is shameful, and such feelings may be reinforced by
the stigma that they are unfairly made to feel.”
—Neel Burton, “Coping with Self-Harm,” Hide and Seek (blog), Psychology Today, January 13, 2013.
www.psychologytoday.com.
Burton is a psychiatrist from Oxford, England.
“ Self-harm, or inflicting physical harm onto one’s body
to ease emotional distress, is not uncommon in kids
and teens.”
—Margarita Tartakovsky, “Helping Your Child Reduce Self-Harming Behavior,” Psych Central, October 16, 2013.
http://psychcentral.com.
Tartakovsky is associate editor for the online mental health resource Psych
Central.