Self-injury and cutting: Is your child at risk?

"Total chaos"
“That first night when my mom found out, it was total chaos,” recalls Chloe. But things calmed down after a couple of days, and the heart-to-heart talks began between mom and daughter. An added plus was that Janet took the time to read up on self-injury. “She just needed me to ask about it,” says Janet.

The family sought help immediately. Chloe had been to a therapist the year before to work out some issues related to anxiety and depression. “When I found out she was cutting herself, I recontacted the therapist,” says Janet.

Pathway to communication
Chloe was happy the issue was finally out in the open. It was the first step to getting the help she needed. “Having someone to talk to made a big difference,” she says. Learning how to communicate worries and problems to other people and finding other ways to deal with stress were keys to her recovery.

Today, four years later, Chloe no longer hurts herself. She has a list of stress-relieving activities she can turn to instead; she can play the piano, write in a journal, read or talk to someone close. (Eating a few of her favourite chocolate cookies also does wonders.)

Kids like Chloe and Christine generally start injuring themselves spontaneously and on their own. And while experts stress there is no “cool” factor involved in it, an increasing number are experimenting with self-injury after being told about it by peers. Bronwen Neal* of Vancouver, for example, started cutting herself at age 12 after a babysitter told her it was a great stress reliever. She even showed Bronwen how to do it. “She told me that this was the way you manage times that were hard,” says Bronwen, now 28. At the time, Bronwen was a vulnerable child; she suffered from depression and had a tumultuous family life.

Watch for clues
Some kids who self-injure don't do it for long, while others can essentially become addicted to the practice. In her research, Heath found many kids cut or otherwise hurt themselves for up to a year or two, then stop on their own. Others self-injure chronically, continue doing it into adulthood and may never stop without help. A small number may escalate to potentially more life-threatening acts of self-injury.

But while some kids may self-injure as something of an experiment, parents should never dismiss self-injury as a phase. Even temporary self-injurers have difficulty expressing emotions and are at risk of going back to it. Parents should watch for clues and act on their suspicions. It's thanks to the compassion and immediate intervention on the part of their parents that Christine and Chloe are healthy, happy adults today.

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