Nationwide Workshops Help Therapists Combat Self-Mutilation in Adolescents

Therapists across Canada have been reporting a rising trend of children and adolescents who injure themselves. Children as young as eleven have been engaging in self-mutilation including repeated cutting, scratching, branding (burning themselves with hot objects), excessive body piercings, and hair pulling. While an estimated one per cent of adults have reportedly engaged in self-harm at some point in their lives, the incidence among adolescents is as high as sixteen percent. This estimate probably doesn't reflect the true incidence of self-harm behaviour since many mutilation cases go unreported. Despite being linked to suicide attempts in adolescents, most self-mutilating adolescents do not try to kill themselves. Potential reasons for self-mutilation include psychological acting-out, depression, childhood trauma, a need for self-punishment, and even peer pressure. While therapists have reported a greater incidence of self-mutilation in girls over boys, there is still limited data available despite a growing awareness of the problem.

To assist therapists in recognizing and treating self-mutilation, the Winnipeg-based Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute offers a series of nationwide workshops on adolescent self-injury. The workshop focuses on teaching therapists to provide their adolescent patients with more constructive acting-out strategies to deal with the emotional issues that lead them to mutilate themselves. As front-line workers become better informed, adolescents seeking help are provided with the treatment that they need.

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Comments

[John]

To Whom it May Concern,
I am a pastor at a church that has a young man (14 years old) who has mutilated his face to look like the "Joker" in the recent Batman movie "Dark Knight." I am curious about why a young person would act out in such a way. Could you offer any helpful thoughts? Thank you and if you have any clarifying questions please let me know.

[Romeo Vitelli]

I'm not sure how to comment on someone sight unseen. What does the young man have to say about what he did? Is he under medical care at present or is there care that you can arrange for him?