10 to 20 years ago, I could safely say that cutting on oneself was 1) fairly rare and 2) a symptom of an underlying personality disorder. Today I’m not sure that either one of those statements is true.
A youth minister friend of mine posted this on cutting:
“There is no one reason why people cut. For some, it’s a way of relieving emotional pain. Others cut because it brings a “high” similar to a drug. And for some, it starts as a fad… There’s a sense of being in control that goes along with it, all the while, we actually spin out of control.”
Michelle Malkin addresses the same issue here writing about the impact the entertainment industry has on promoting self harm as a fad.
I was taught, and still believe, that most self harm behavior is a “primitive” form of expressing strong, overwhelming emotions. Feelings of anger, depression, frustration, exuberance, elation, etc. that a person cannot (or doesn’t know how to) put into words will come oozing out in other ways. A key ingredient in any treatment plan is to help people verbalize whatever is going on inside them.
So why is this so much more common now? Here’s a few unscientific ideas off the top of my head.
Fads: Fads come and go. Even in mental health. I’m not minimizing the reality of the emotional and physical harm people (mostly young people) are doing. Just acknowledging that adolescents have an amazing capacity for taking any phenomenon and giving it 15 minutes of fame.
Body Piercing and Tattoos: I’m not suggesting that piercing or tattoos are harmful. But come on… with piercing widely accepted, couldn’t cutting be viewed as the next step? If one’s body becomes simply a canvas for personal expression… why not cutting?
Changes in the Family: If I’m right and cutting is an immature way of dealing with emotional pain, then that begs the question of why do we have so many kids unable to deal with life’s problems. And in my way of looking at things, that lays some responibility at the feet of parents.
So… what do we do? Steve, my youth minister friend, summed it up well:
“For me, there is nothing more important than daily talking, listening, and reflecting with Him. He heals open wounds, and removes every scar!”
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