Self - Harm
The facts: Research suggests that 215,000 British
youngsters aged between 11 and 15 have
self-harmed. In a classroom of 20 pupils,
two will hurt themselves on purpose.
Britain's incidences of self-harm is among
the highest in Europe. Last year, more than
24,000 teens were admitted to hospital.
The Mental Health Foundation has begun
a huge enquiry to try to discover how
many teens self-harm and why they do it.
Stop hurting, start healing
Here's what to do if you self-harm:
1) Make a list of 10 "safe" things to do
when you feeling like huritng yourself.
This could include drawing on your arm
with a red pen or keeping a spoon in the
freezer that you can press against your
skin. It's uncomfy, but won't harm you.
2) Confide in at least two people
woh you can caoll whenever you
feel like hurting yourself.
3) Contact one of the organisations
below. They've helped loads of
teens who feel the same as you.
Self - Harm
For some girls hurting themselves isn't always an accident, it's a way of life. We found out why...
The day was hot, the teacher was droning on and Kaila Lawson, 13, was feeling tense as she sat in class that morningn in September 2002. Then her friend Lisa took a razor blade from a supplies cupboard and nuged her. "Come to the toilets,"Lisa said. Kaila sensed what the signal meatn. Days earlier, noticing that they had similar scars on their arms, the girls told each they secretly cut themselves whenever rhey felt stressed. With teir secret out, the girls sneaked away from class to start their "Cutting club". Locked in a toolet cublice at their school in San Jose, California, Lisa sliced the inside of her arm until it bled. Then she passed the blade to Kaila so she could take her turn. "I felt bad for not trying to stop Lisa," says Kaila. "But cutting makes you feel numb. Like nothing else matters." Once the grils started cutting together , they couldn't stop - first doing it once a week, then daily. Sometimes another frind, Nicole. joined in. Kaila says she felt raessured when she spotted scars on Lisa's arm. "until then, I never realised anyone else cut themselves," She says. Cutting with Lisa "was this release. I wasn't thinking about my problems any more," she explains. Eventually, Kail's mum found a azor blade in their guest bedroom and called crisis line, which recommended that she takes Kaila to hospital. Kaila got two weeks of counselling at the hospital. She doubts she'd have been able to stop self-harming without help.
Since leaving the hospital, Kaila has continued counselling. "I learned to accept myself more," she admits.
Not Usual
Altought this story sounds pretty dramatic, it's not that unusual. Last year we asked what you thought, and three in 10-mizz-ettes told us you had exprnecie of cutting ypurself or knew someone who did.
So why is this happening and what's causing it? Self-harm is one of those sticky subjects you may have heard about but don't really understand. It's basically when someone delibertaly hurts themself as a way of relieving all the stress and tension they've had bubbling up inside for a while. But for some troubeled teens, hurting themselves is the only way they feel can helo them cope with their problems.
Girls are twice as likely to do it as boys. Psychologist Dr Petra Boynton says that they could be cos boys are encouraged to be loud and let off steam trough sport and stuff when they're angry. But grils are under prssure to be "nice" and to keep quiet about things that make them upset or annoyed. "if you can't yhout and scream about something that's getting to you, then it builds up inside," she says. "but when you have to release it somehow."
Sounds scary doesn't it? Dr Petra adds, "It's a very dangerous thing to do because if you cut yourself too deply you could be putting yourself in a lot of danger."
The Mythis V the Truth
"They're attenion-seeking"
Loads of people assume that anyone who self-harmes is only doing it to draw attention to themself, but this isn't true. The facts is, there are loads of other much less painful ways of getting people to notice you and most self-harmesr do it in secret, rarely telling even their best mates.
"Self-harming is trendy"
Absolutely not it case. Most of people who have stopped injuring themselves say they are left with disgustuing scars, which they end up having to explain for the rest of their lives. They definitely don't think of them as fashionable.
"It's a sucide attempt"
Costhis is such a trickyx topic to understand, lots of poeple think self-harmers are trying to kill themselves. But it's more likeyly to be a way to get rid of all the stress and anger that's been building up and needs to be released.
Soo... ich hab den Artiekl genauso abgetippt, wie er da in der zeitung stand... ich würde gern eure meinung dazu hören, denn ich fidne den total dumm. Genau das Bild zeigen die, was andere oft denken, aber falsch ist!
Darky
The facts: Research suggests that 215,000 British
youngsters aged between 11 and 15 have
self-harmed. In a classroom of 20 pupils,
two will hurt themselves on purpose.
Britain's incidences of self-harm is among
the highest in Europe. Last year, more than
24,000 teens were admitted to hospital.
The Mental Health Foundation has begun
a huge enquiry to try to discover how
many teens self-harm and why they do it.
Stop hurting, start healing
Here's what to do if you self-harm:
1) Make a list of 10 "safe" things to do
when you feeling like huritng yourself.
This could include drawing on your arm
with a red pen or keeping a spoon in the
freezer that you can press against your
skin. It's uncomfy, but won't harm you.
2) Confide in at least two people
woh you can caoll whenever you
feel like hurting yourself.
3) Contact one of the organisations
below. They've helped loads of
teens who feel the same as you.
Self - Harm
For some girls hurting themselves isn't always an accident, it's a way of life. We found out why...
The day was hot, the teacher was droning on and Kaila Lawson, 13, was feeling tense as she sat in class that morningn in September 2002. Then her friend Lisa took a razor blade from a supplies cupboard and nuged her. "Come to the toilets,"Lisa said. Kaila sensed what the signal meatn. Days earlier, noticing that they had similar scars on their arms, the girls told each they secretly cut themselves whenever rhey felt stressed. With teir secret out, the girls sneaked away from class to start their "Cutting club". Locked in a toolet cublice at their school in San Jose, California, Lisa sliced the inside of her arm until it bled. Then she passed the blade to Kaila so she could take her turn. "I felt bad for not trying to stop Lisa," says Kaila. "But cutting makes you feel numb. Like nothing else matters." Once the grils started cutting together , they couldn't stop - first doing it once a week, then daily. Sometimes another frind, Nicole. joined in. Kaila says she felt raessured when she spotted scars on Lisa's arm. "until then, I never realised anyone else cut themselves," She says. Cutting with Lisa "was this release. I wasn't thinking about my problems any more," she explains. Eventually, Kail's mum found a azor blade in their guest bedroom and called crisis line, which recommended that she takes Kaila to hospital. Kaila got two weeks of counselling at the hospital. She doubts she'd have been able to stop self-harming without help.
Since leaving the hospital, Kaila has continued counselling. "I learned to accept myself more," she admits.
Not Usual
Altought this story sounds pretty dramatic, it's not that unusual. Last year we asked what you thought, and three in 10-mizz-ettes told us you had exprnecie of cutting ypurself or knew someone who did.
So why is this happening and what's causing it? Self-harm is one of those sticky subjects you may have heard about but don't really understand. It's basically when someone delibertaly hurts themself as a way of relieving all the stress and tension they've had bubbling up inside for a while. But for some troubeled teens, hurting themselves is the only way they feel can helo them cope with their problems.
Girls are twice as likely to do it as boys. Psychologist Dr Petra Boynton says that they could be cos boys are encouraged to be loud and let off steam trough sport and stuff when they're angry. But grils are under prssure to be "nice" and to keep quiet about things that make them upset or annoyed. "if you can't yhout and scream about something that's getting to you, then it builds up inside," she says. "but when you have to release it somehow."
Sounds scary doesn't it? Dr Petra adds, "It's a very dangerous thing to do because if you cut yourself too deply you could be putting yourself in a lot of danger."
The Mythis V the Truth
"They're attenion-seeking"
Loads of people assume that anyone who self-harmes is only doing it to draw attention to themself, but this isn't true. The facts is, there are loads of other much less painful ways of getting people to notice you and most self-harmesr do it in secret, rarely telling even their best mates.
"Self-harming is trendy"
Absolutely not it case. Most of people who have stopped injuring themselves say they are left with disgustuing scars, which they end up having to explain for the rest of their lives. They definitely don't think of them as fashionable.
"It's a sucide attempt"
Costhis is such a trickyx topic to understand, lots of poeple think self-harmers are trying to kill themselves. But it's more likeyly to be a way to get rid of all the stress and anger that's been building up and needs to be released.
Soo... ich hab den Artiekl genauso abgetippt, wie er da in der zeitung stand... ich würde gern eure meinung dazu hören, denn ich fidne den total dumm. Genau das Bild zeigen die, was andere oft denken, aber falsch ist!
Darky