One in six teens inflict self-harm
Abusing yourself isn't a suicidal or attention-seeking action, research suggests, but a coping mechanism
ANDRÉ PICARD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
January 29, 2008 at 9:18 AM EST
Almost one in six teenagers "self-harm" - injuring themselves by cutting, burning and other methods as a way of dealing with depression and anxiety, according to a new Canadian study.
Girls are more than twice as likely as boys to engage in self-harm, the research shows.
"People who are not familiar with this field will likely be struck by the level of this behaviour," Mary Nixon, a research associate at the Centre for Youth and Society at the University of Victoria, said in an interview.
"We're trying to raise awareness that it's not uncommon in young people and not related to mental health problems," she said.
A University of Victoria study found that girls are twice as likely as boys to engage in self-harm. <cite class="source">(Tim Fraser for The Globe and Mail)</cite>
The research, published in today's edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, shows that 17.6 per cent of teenagers self-harm - a number that includes 21 per cent of girls and 8.7 per cent of boys.
Cutting - such as using a razor to mutilate one's arms - is the most common form of self-harm, followed by burning, scratching, self-hitting and minor overdoses of drugs (usually prescription drugs, but sometimes street drugs) and alcohol.
Dr. Nixon said teenagers who self-harm are not trying to commit suicide but, rather, the act is a "maladaptive coping mechanism to deal with stress.
"These young people are translating their emotional pain into physical pain," she said.
Dr. Nixon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, said when teenagers harm themselves, it is often assumed they are doing so to get attention, but the behaviour is far more complex.
"A lot of these kids hide their cuts and burns. It's not attention-seeking, it's something else," she said.
The study was conducted using data from the University of Victoria healthy youth survey.
A total of 568 young people aged 14 to 21 were interviewed. Ninety-six of them said they had, at some point in their young lives, harmed themselves deliberately.
About one-third of the teenagers had done so only once, another third on two to three occasions and the other third had self-harmed repeatedly. On average, their mutilating actions began at age 15.
"Some kids feel it does something for them so there is reinforcement and it can become like a 'bad habit' or an addictive behaviour," Dr. Nixon said.
While there are a number of websites that show teenagers how to self-mutilate - some in sickening detail - the majority of those surveyed, 74 per cent, said they had gotten the idea on their own. Almost 30 per cent said they got the idea from a friend, an indication of copycat behaviour. Another 15 per cent said they practised self-harm after seeing similar acts in movies or on television.
The research also shows that the majority of young people who self-harm recognize that doing so is problematic and seek help.
They turn, first and foremost to their friends, with 56 per cent saying they confided in a friend. Fifty-four per cent of youth turned to a psychiatrist or psychologist, 48 per cent went to family members, 30 per cent to family doctors and 18 per cent to telephone help lines such as Kids Help Line. "Teens, for many things, talk to other teens first," Dr. Nixon said. "But self-harm is such an intense, emotionally charged issue that not all peers can deal with it."
Dr. Nixon said she hopes the new research will, more than anything else, catch the eye of teachers, school counsellors, family doctors and others who interact regularly with teens so they can reach out to young women and men who are harming themselves.
"These kids need help," she said.
The research shows a clear link between self-harm and mental health problems. Those who hurt themselves are more than twice as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and impulse disorders.
It is not entirely clear why girls are more likely to self-harm than boys, but Dr. Nixon believes it is related to the fact that rates of depression soar at puberty and that girls not only mature earlier but react differently to stress.
"Girls internalize their emotions," she said, while boys may go out and pick a fight instead of hurting themselves.
The good thing, that attention seekers won't know if they'll get attention from it. Which they probs would. But, then again, what about people who aren't doing it for attention and want to talk to somebody about it....it's a very tricky thing. 
