Troubled Teens Resources

Teens at risk can manifest symptoms of behavioral problems in peculiar and very destructive ways. An acquaintance recently enrolled her daughter in a troubled teen boarding school. She had been having problems for almost two years prior to coming to the conclusion that Jenny would not get the support she needed from the public school system. When I asked her what the last straw was she had a one word answer.

“Cutting. I’d read about it and thought it too weird to contemplate- never thought for a second that Jen would do something that harmful, but, well, I walked into her room when she was getting dresses and saw all of these fresh scabs and scars and when I confronted her she broke down into a sobbing mess. That’s when I knew her depression was beyond what I could handle. I needed help.”

Believe or not, such a painful practice can become addictive. Here is how one teen on a bulletin board described it.

“Before you make that first cut remember: You will enjoy this. You will find the blood and pain release addictive. Even though you think you can make a couple tiny cuts that’s aren’t deep and that will heal easily, they will get deeper. They will scar. They will take sometimes months to heal and years for the scars to fade. If you think you can limit the cutting to one part of your body, think again; it will spread when you run out of skin.”

(Source)

To educate yourself about cutting, or self-harm, Psyke.org has information, testimony and a collection of very unpleasant pictures.