Troubled Teens Resources

Schools for troubled teens that deal with emotionally abused teen girls are very familiar with the phenomenon of self-mutilation or “cutting”. Often it is the only way extremely troubled teens can deal with overwhelming emotions but it is extremely frightening for parents who can not comprehend why their child would choose to harm themselves.

“Self-injury is not really about inflicting physical pain as much as it is about escape from emotional pain. The emotional pain and physical tension of an unhappy adolescent can be relentless. By causing physical pain, an adolescent can reduce the level of emotional and physiological distress to a bearable level. Minor physical pain, such as pulling their hair, provides a distraction from their feelings. This can progress to scratching, picking at sores, cutting or burning.”

Self-cutting could be a cry for help,a symbol of emotional trauma too big for the teen to comprehend or articulate. Some reports associate sexual abuse with a teen’s need to cut themselves.

“Adolescents who self-injure usually have underlying problems. There is a strong relationship between self-harm and sexual abuse before 13 years of age.”

In some instance, self-injury indicates that the teen feels an overwhelming desire to punish themselves for their perceived failures.

“Those who are sensitive and insecure may come to believe they are failures. Self-injury is reinforced when an adolescent believes they should be punished and their self-injury results in emotional relief. An adolescent may punish him- or herself for many reasons.”

(Source)

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.