Troubled Teens Resources

Keisha’s back was pressed flat against the wall, her knees drawn up tight to her chest, almost as if she were trying to penetrate the grey concrete block with her entire body. Her face was tense and her eyes seemingly focused on something faraway, visible only to her. Occasionally a strangely self-satisfied grimace would flit across her otherwise blank expression.

During her regular rounds, the on duty officer stopped to observe the troubled teenager, standing back a bit from the cell’s small service window to study the young prisoner. In time, the girl uncoiled her tense body and standing up, shook herself as if coming out of a trance.  A small safety pen fell from her hand.

Just as the officer suspected, the girl was hurting herself. In lieu of a blade or sharp edge, she had resorted to digging the contraband safety pen into the back of her arms, forming an irregular, angry red circle of tiny pricks.

Keisha is one of millions of at-risk teenagers worldwide who have become obsessed with “self-injury”, also known as cutting. But even when a sharp object isn’t available, any instrument that promises pain will do.

Self-injury is described as a coping mechanism, an extremely unhealthy method of drowning out the troubled teenager’s mental anguish and emotional pain. It is an activity that requires parental intervention as soon as it is discovered. It portends of a crisis that is fast approaching the teenager, often indicative of sexual abuse, emphatically indicative of deep inner turmoil.

“Cutting is a powerful and extreme act, with a huge amount of gratification about it - the sheer, physical, tactile, even sensuous delight of it. It’s not a death-inducing act. There’s a kick to it, a thrill. It makes people feel alive.’ At this extreme end, he says, cutters have very often been sexually abused and are now abusing themselves. They always need help.”
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Teens Health offers a thorough piece to help the cutting teenager resist the compulsion to self-injure. An excerpt follows and you will find additional methods of intervention at the same site.

Here are some things you can try while waiting for a cutting urge to pass:

• call a friend and talk about something completely different
• take a shower (make sure you don’t have razors in the shower)
• go for a walk or run, take a bike ride, dance like crazy, or get some other form of exercise
• play with a pet
• watch TV (change the channel if the show gets upsetting or features cutting)
• drink a glass of water
• play with a pet
• take a shower (make sure you don’t have razors in the shower)
• take a bath (make sure you don’t have razors near the tub)
• listen to soothing music that will shift your mood
• try a breathing exercise
• try some relaxing yoga exercises
• draw or scribble designs on paper using a red pen or paint on white paper — if it helps, make the paint drip
• write out your hurt, anger, or pain using a pen and paper
• draw the pain
• compose songs or poetry to express what you’re feeling
• listen to music that talks about how you feel

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