Myths and facts about self- injury ....... If someone self- harm it doesnt mean he or she is suicidal or has a mental illness ....... Chrissy Tobias was 21 when she sought treatment for a long, secret battle with self-injury – to the shock of family and friends. She started cutting herself and banging her head against the wall when she was 12, but never displayed outward signs of an internal struggle. During high school, Tobias earned good grades and was active in orchestra, church and sports. She’d carefully chosen where to inflict her wounds so theyd be hidden beneath clothing, concealing the fact that she hurt herself. After all, nobody would have ever guessed she was the type of person to do so, she says. But according to experts, the idea that there’s a type of person who self-harms is a common myth – just one of many misconceptions about non-suicidal self-injury. NSSI is “the direct, deliberate damage of one’s body without the intention of suicide, and for purposes that aren’t socially sanctioned,” such as tattoos or piercings, says Peggy Andover, a professor of psychology at Fordham University and president of the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury. Theres not one underlying reason why people engage in NSSI. But psychologists generally agree it serves as a method of emotional regulation: People use it to cope with sadness, distress, anxiety, anger and other intense feelings or, on the flipside, emotional numbness. “I would typically use self-injury when things would get overwhelming, or when I felt like I had no outlet and had to do something about it,” recalls Tobias, 28, who lives in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. “I would use it as a relief.” NSSI touches all ages and genders, subcultures and social classes. Yet there are widespread – and inaccurate – stereotypes about the behavior, says Stephen Lewis, a psychology professor at the University of Guelph in Canada. In 2014, a study conducted by Lewis and his colleagues found that just 10 percent of websites that provided information about NSSI were endorsed by health or academic institutions. Each contained at least one myth about NSSI, further perpetuating stigma and confusion. Here are some of the most common misconceptions – and surprising truths – that Tobias, Lewis and others say exist about NSSI: Myth: Self-injury isn’t common. For years, Tobias kept her self-injury a secret because she was ashamed and didn’t think anyone would understand. It wasn’t until she sought treatment and started attending self-injury support groups through a local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness that she realized she wasn’t alone. “It’s not as uncommon as a lot of people think,” Tobias says. It’s just that nobody talks about it because of the stigma. No exact numbers quantify how many people engage in NSSI. But in 2012, the journal Pediatrics found that about 8 percent of children ages 8 to 12 years old had attempted self-injury. And a 2011 study investigating self-injury rates in the general population found that between 4 to 5 percent had tried the behavior. Recent research suggest one-third to half of adolescents in the United States have tried some form of non-suicidal self-injury. Myth: If you self-injure, you’re suicidal. While doing research for her book about self-injury, “The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury,” sociologist Patricia Adler says the first misconception she encountered was that NSSI is a suicidal behavior. Just because people cut, she says, doesn’t mean they want to kill themselves. “What these people have in common is that they’re not all happy,” she says. “They might try suicide. They might try self-injury. But it’s not like it’s a stepping stone – [that] if you try to self-injure, you’re going to graduate to suicide. It’s an anti-suicidal gesture because it’s a way of trying to feel better, rather than [ending one’s life].” Tobias agrees. Although she has attempted suicide, she says her self-injury is unrelated to the urge to end her life. She’s not trying to kill herself when she cuts; rather, she says, it’s a negative coping skill to alleviate emotional pain. “I was doing it to get through the day,” she says. “I did it to help [myself] live – not to try to die.” Experts warn, however, that self-injury suggests there’s underlying distress, as well as a lack of effective coping mechanisms. This factor may heighten the risk of suicide. “If someone becomes suicidal, then the act of having engaged in self-injury does psychologically prepare them to damage their body,” says psychologist Janis Whitlock, director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery at Cornell University. “That piece, for somebody whos never hurt their body before, is not easy. We have a lot of inner safeguards, psychologically, from taking our own lives. Somebody who really wants to commit suicide is going to have to overcome that. And somebody with self-injury has already practiced hurting themselves that way.” Myth: If you self-injure, you have a mental illness. When she was 21, Tobias was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. However, she knows several people in her self-injury support groups who don’t have a psychiatric illness. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V, self-injury is a symptom of one disorder: borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by unstable moods, relationships and behaviors. Additionally, research suggests NSSI can be associated with anorexia, anxiety, depression and substance abuse. However, experts say many people who struggle with NSSI don’t meet diagnostic criteria for any one of these disorders, yet still use self-injury to cope with their emotions.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 03:16:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015