Self Injury and Cutting Addiction

They tend to inflicted physical injury upon themselves as a way to cope with a situation or feeling they don't know how to control. The majority of people who engage in this type of behavior are mostly female teenagers and young adults, ranging in ages from 14 on up. As a Parent you need to look out for warning signs such as; a sudden change in friends, your child always wanting to be alone and school grades are getting worse and worse. In adults there are also signs such as; sudden change of friends and interest, staying to themselves and not wanting to be around other people. This seems to be a new popular thing for teenagers to do when something doesn't go right with friends and boyfriends issues with just not fitting in with certain groups of kids at school. They cut their wrist, legs, arms, stomach and other parts of their body and feel no pain when doing so. A lot of times it's difficult for young teenagers to see that there is a positive road ahead. When the now hurts they turn to injuring themselves. They often hide this behavior from their parents by wearing long sleeved shirts, long pants and jackets even when it's warm outside. Other things they might do to injure themselves is take a metal object and brand themselves, picking at their skin until it bleeds. When the do this they continue to pick at the same spot over and over again and it doesn't have time to heal. Pulling their hair out can be another way to self mutilate. When doing this you may never know because they can be pulling hair from the underneath of their hair so you can't tell its thinning. Hitting themselves with objects, making bruises, banging their heads on hard objects these are some other ways people can cause injury to themselves. Something else we don't look at as being a form of self injury is excessive tattoos and piercings. If you think about it this is a very painful process to put your body through so someone that does it over and over again can be doing it for the comfort of their addiction.
How can we help someone we know if a self injury or cuts themselves? There are many steps you can take; you have to let that person know how much you love them and care. Let them know you will be there for them through it all and if they need your help they have it 100%. Encourage them to talk about their anger and emotions rather than turning to cutting or self injury. Give them you undivided attention when they are talking to you and offer good alternatives. If it's a child you need to sit down with the entire family and see where this is coming from and let your child know he or she has the support of the whole family not just some of them. Most importantly, let them know they are loved and you care and you will be there every step of the way.