self harm

a synopsis of self harm by Miss Tia Monèt

   
The Hidden World
    The hidden world of self-harm among teenagers and young adults in the United States of America is considered a stigma in most communities.  The thought of a person deliberately taking a sharp object either a razor or some type of blade or even a piece of broken glass and cutting the skin deep enough to watch the blood come out, yet not enough to kill themselves is to some people rather uncomfortable for most people to handle. Although not always a symptom of a psychological personality disorder, such as paranoid personality disorder, border line personality, self-defeating personality, or even just an uncommon way to handle all the stress and pressures of life in a quiet way without having a big breaking down completely. 
    For a rather long time, people who cut were thought suicidal, and in some cases they are still considered to be a bit suicidal and with fanatical parents, the children are sent away to asylums or such places to be forced out of the habit. How ever although cutting is one of the more popular forms of self harm, there are other types such as self-burning, hair pulling, and imbedding foreign  objects into the skin.
   
    As a way of dealing with stress, self-harm can be considered a very unhealthy choice, as cutting can be addictive and hard to stop. Cutting does provide relief, temporarily, as it sometimes shows scars after the skin is healed, it serves as a reminder not to be around the stressor again or the self-harm may happen again. When it is hard to remove oneself from the stressor, the person may cut again to deal with the surmounting pressure, in which as the act is repeated, the addiction to cutting grows.  The best way to deal with stress cutting is to either find a safer, healthier way to deal

with stress within the person’s comfort zone. One’s person way of ‘talking it out’ may seem to extreme for a cutter to even consider. Most cutters are very introverted, private people , so airing ‘dirty laundry’ seem shameful and embarrassing for them.  The best way for self-harmers to deal with stressors is to have a place to themselves, away from everyone to either write their feelings down in a journal or work out.  Even confiding in a close friend can also mellow out the urge to cut, and soon the urge will almost be non-existent although always there.  The stress self-harmer, would need a support group among close friends, or maybe a stranger who would have an un-biased view on things to help the person slow down the urge to stopping completely. However, judging the person and labeling them a ‘freak’ or ‘crazy’ would send the person in the complete opposite direction, and possibly increase the cutting or self harm to the point of injury and suicide.
    With the personality disorders, the self harmers may exhibit other symptoms, of what ever disorder they may have. Such as extreme mood swings, form manic depression to rage, to fear, to extreme elation. As most people on the outside do not understand personality disorders, it would be best to go to an understanding therapist, and let him or her help the self-harmer while helping the person deal with their psychological personality disorder. The people who have the disorders should not be judged nor patronized but treated like everybody else.

    Although cutting, and self harm in general is almost a hidden epidemic, there are people around, in work places, in class rooms who self-harm with everyone else none the wiser. The endorphins are addictive, especially during stress, anger and when things overwhelm a person. Cutting in a way of getting back in control, of having one area of your life completely yours. You control how deep the cut is, how much blood releases, how many times, the scars. Everything is under control for that one moment in time, when a person decides to self-harm. The light airy feeling, which is what a person wants, and to many people it is safer than drugs or anything else because its done to the body. I understand this subject quite well, because I, my self, when i was younger used to be a cutter, a self harmer and I also had friends self-harm.  So its is an epidemic, but it can be helped and stopped. Controlled and as the person ages, the need to cut fades away, and it is used as a very last resort.