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A Cut Above
The Practice of Self-Mutilation
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
A disturbing situation has emerged among teens: the practice of self-mutilation. Teenagers who self-mutilate – overwhelmingly girls – are inflicting pain and injuries on their own bodies. While it's estimated that only 1 percent of the American population self-mutilates, the emotional issues that drive them – and the physical fall-out from such practices as cutting and burning – make self-mutilation a serious problem.
Cutting is but one of the self-mutilating behaviors adolescents may exhibit. Other common practices of self-mutilating behaviors include burning, bruising, breaking of bones (especially digits), picking at the skin or "wound interference" (the practice of producing a wound and not allowing it to heal).
There is no stereotypical person who will choose to mutilate his or her own body, but experts say it's a process that stems from the inability to deal with stress or intense emotions.
"Self-mutilation is a desperate attempt to have some control over unbearable feelings of aloneness, loneliness and helplessness," says Margaret Paul, therapist. "When a teen or young adult has not learned healthy ways of managing these intense feelings, they turn to physical pain as a way to blot out the emotional pain or gain a sense of control over the pain they feel. In a strange way, they are really not trying to hurt themselves – they are trying to protect themselves from something even more painful than the physical pain."
According to SAFE-Alternatives, an organization that helps self-mutilators, those who practice it say they do it when they feel fear, anger, guilt, sadness, anxiety or other emotions that are just too much to handle. Those who self-mutilate often feel they can't express themselves verbally or otherwise. As these feelings remain inside, they build up to dangerous levels and can eventually result in self-mutilating behavior.