For this assignment, I'd like you to read/browse the following links on Self Harm behavior.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/self-injury/DS00775 A detailed evaluation of self injury from the Mayo Clinic (make sure to click the topics at the bottom of each section you are reading to proceed to the next section of this topic). (read)
http://www.selfinjury.org/ American Self Harm Informational Clearinghouse (browse)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-harm Wikipedia's entry (read)
One more of your choosing (provide link).
Next, write a summary of what you learned plus your opinions and insight on this topic.
Here are some questions to consider if you are having trouble getting started: What were you most surprised about in your reading? What are you most interested in? What is your evaluation of the quality of the resources you read? Can the General Aggression Model explain self harm behavior? Can we conceptualize self injury as a form of violence?
As terrible as it is, cutting was an epidemic in my junior high school. Girls who were having identity troubles would cut themselves frequently. Even girls who seemed to have perfectly normal lives would carve shapes and symbols into their skin. I'm not sure whether this was some sort of fascination or if it truly was an intentionally self injurious behavior. Perhaps there was just something "cool" about having a heart-shaped scar when they weren't old enough to get tattoos. Looking back, I wonder how the adults in our lives (parents, teachers, counselors, etc.) did not know or take action about these behaviors. It seemed like every girl I knew or was friends with had engaged in self-injurious behavior at least once. This is why I was incredibly surprised to find out that while most self-harm behavior is seen in teenage girls, men and women of all ages engage in cutting or other self-harm behaviors.
The other thing I found surprising was that there are several types of self-harm behavior, such as hitting oneself to create bruises, banging one's head against the wall, or burning of the skin. Cutting of the skin seems to be the most widely-known form of self-harm. Not often do we hear about other forms that are just as serious and harmful to the individual. This does make a lot of sense, especially in cases of self-harm where individuals are looking to self punish because they feel guilty about something or feel like they should be punished in some way for not meeting expectations, bad thoughts, etc.
Self-injury is somewhat self explanatory in these cases of self-punishment. What I am interested in is the deeper, more abstract reasons for self-injurious behavior. For example, self-harm as a release for feelings which the individual cannot find another outlet to express. Also, in serious cases, self-harm can be an extreme cry for help. I like to think of it as trying to talk through a glass wall. Nobody can hear you crying for help, but you can do something extreme to gain their attention and let them know that something bad is going on. Self-harm for attention seems like a very negative connotation. It's not necessarily that the individual needs to be the center of attention or in the spotlight. It's more about finding a way to express their extreme and desperate need for help. Self-harm is something very shocking and will certainly gain the concern of those around the individual. I am also interested in the other feelings, emotions, and traumas that contribute to self-harm behavior.
I believe these resources to be pretty credible, even the Wikipedia page. The selfharm.org page seems to be more of an awareness and general information page and seems to feature less in-depth factual information. In my personal opinion, the Mayo Clinic page treats it as too much of a medical condition. I think rather than listing "symptoms," the page should list "warning signs" or "things to be aware of if you suspect someone is harming his or herself." Self-harm is something that goes beyond the surface. It is not just a diagnosis that a doctor can cure or medication can fix. Self-injurious behavior revolves around deep, dark, and very secretive emotional traumas, pain, bad memories, and other disorders. This is probably why many cutters make the cuts on areas of the skin that can easily be concealed, such as the pubic area.
It becomes a rather grey area when trying to conceptualize self-harm behaviors as violent or aggressive. In some cases, self-harm can clearly be called violent and aggressive, because the intent is to inflict harm on the body in order to punish oneself. However, in cases of self-injury where the goal is simply to escape a feeling of numbness, the definition of aggression and violence against oneself becomes muddied. The individual is not particularly trying to inflict harm. He or she is simply seeking an outlet for emotional pain that he or she feels cannot be expressed in any other way. It can be argued that by technical definition, self-injury is a form of aggression, and sometimes violence against the self. However, it can be alternatively argued that the individual does not have the direct intent to harm his or herself, but rather is unsure of how to express these emotions, and ends up hurting the physical body as a result. I am currently unsure as to which side I would place myself on. I hope that with more discussion and learning about self-harm, this can become more clear.
With that said, I am unsure as to if or how the general aggression model can explain self-harm behavior. It seems that it could possibly do so by examining internal states of the individual, how automatic the behavior is, and so forth. However, it is difficult to conceptualize this when the one inflicting the harm is also the one receiving that same harm. It becomes very confusing. This is certainly something I would really like to discuss further in class before being able to say with certainty that the general aggression model can explain self-injurious behavior.
Self injurious behaviors are a very alarming issue and I feel that a significant amount of attention should be brought to it. I believe there are too many adolescents in particular that learn about cutting behavior and feel that it is an appropriate coping skill to utilize themselves. I have been working in the field for several years now and am still amazed at the number of adolescents that engage in self injurious behaviors. What I find to be even more frightening at times is that there are many people involved in their lives that are aware it is occurring and feel at a loss of what to do or minimize the severity of the issue. After reviewing the web sites and attachments listed I was very pleased to read that they were all very consistent. Many of the resources discussed the emotional and psychological aspects of individuals that engage in self harming behaviors. In my work experience I have found these identifying issues to be the most prevalent with my clients. The explanation of the need for emotional control appears to summarize many of the aspects related to cutting very well. Many of the individuals I have worked with feel that they have lost or have no control of their environment. Many of these individuals have been victims of some type of abuse and or are in a non supportive home environment. Many of the individuals I have worked with also struggle significantly to express their feelings in a more healthy and appropriate manner. I believe that many individuals who engage in self harming behaviors are trying to gain some control over their own emotions and environment and this is the only way they believe they are able to do so. As identified in the resources many of these individuals are also very impulsive and have poor problem solving skills. I have also observed this consistently with clients I have worked with. I believe these factors occur because these individuals have a difficult time regulating their emotions and identifying what they are truely feeling and experiencing.
I believe that some of the most important information provided by these resources and the additional resource I obtained is the information regarding treatment and prevention. In my opinion, I feel that education is the most important aspect to understanding and effectively interacting with an individual that engages in self harm behavior. The Mayo Clinic website encourages people to increase their awareness and understanding of self injurious behaviors. It clearly identifies the psychological turmoil the individual may be experiencing and gives very good recommendations on how to help prevent further self injurious behaviors. I also support encouragement of prevention programs. I believe that the programs that encourage youth to seek help and reach out to adults are very important. The loyalty adolescents have for one another is very important, but issues such as self harming behavior is too much for them to deal with and manage on their own. I believe if it becomes more of a social norm to reach out for support, more individuals would do so. The additional resource I found was also very helpful in understanding self injurious behaviors and provided very useful information about understanding, preventing and treating self injurious behaviors. The resource I obtained was the following: http://www.crpsib.com/projects.asp
Self-injury/self-harm is a very serious issue that is hard for people to understand. It can stem from different mental disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, etc. It's described as an act of deliberately harming oneself through cutting, burning, scratching, breaking bones, banging their head.
The reasons behind why a person may engage in such a behavior is still relatively hard to explain. Some believe it is used as a coping mechanism of sorts for people who are under extreme amount of stress and do not have a positive outlet to turn to. Another speculated cause may be that a person feels emotionally numb and engages in this behavior so that they can "feel" something. Yet another and a little more controversial explanation is that the person is doing it for attention. I find this last reason very disturbing because I have known people to engage in this type of behavior and the last thing they wanted was others to know that they were doing it. However, I cannot discount instances where attention-seeking may be the underlying reason for the behavior.
One thing that bothered me while reading the websites was that some of the sites mentioned drugs and alcohol as being somewhat of a cause as well (or at least tried to correlate the use of them as some kind of factor in the act of self-harm). It's my personal feeling that while drugs and alcohol may increase the episodes of self-harm, it should not be overlooked that those who engage in the acts of self-harm may also be turning to drugs and alcohol as well as a way to self-medicate.
I also found it extremely odd that the Mayo Clinic found that people who engage in self-harm are more likely to get into car accidents. It makes me curious as to why this statement was included under the risk factors. Is it because the person is engaging in high risk behavior behind the wheel? Or is it because they are using their vehicle as one more tool to inflict harm on themselves? I don't know what the answer is but it really stuck to me.
WebMd also provides information on self-harm. The symptoms they list for self-harm include the following:
* Frequent cuts and burns that cannot be explained
* Self-punching or scratching
* Needle sticking
* Head banging
* Eye pressing
* Finger or arm biting
* Pulling out one's hair
* Picking at one's skin
When I initially heard of self-harm, it was called self-mutilation. Seventeen magazine had covered an article about one girl's fight to get help with it when I was about 14 or 15 years old (so that would have been back in 1996 or 1997). I remember how incredibly difficult it was to comprehend why a person would engage in such a behavior and how cutting herself actually made her feel better (which wikipedia explained that the act of harming, or in this cutting, releases endorphins which can make you feel good).
As the years went by, I would keep hearing about self-mutilation and how it became part of the so-called "Emo" culture (which quite honestly, I still have no idea what that whole culture or group was all about). This also correlates with Mayo Clinic's list of potential risk-factors. The site listed that people who have friends who engage in self-harm are more likely to engage in the behavior themselves. This draws up the question though of if this is because they are really being socialized by their friends to engage in the behavior or is it because people tend to associate themselves with others who are like them thus their like-minded peer group may have already possessed other factors similar to their own that brought on that behavior?
I forgot to include the link to the website I found: http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/self-injury
This is a topic of some interest to me, as I know someone who used to self-cut themselves. They don't discuss it much, and I've never heard their reasons why, but they did tell me once the anxiety medicine they take helped them stop the behavior. I don't believe they cut anymore; they display none of the "symtoms" described by the websites I looked at. Before I read these articles, I had a very hard time imagining how people could deliberately hurt themselves. I hate pain and avoid it at all costs, and don't think I could ever engage in self-injury, but I now have a better understanding of how someone could. What I've read has confirmed my belief that while physical pain is bad, emotional and psychological pain is worse and much harder to treat.
There were a few things that surprised me. First, as I found while reading through the assigned readings, was the fact that some people don't cut, that they will burn, hit, or poison themselves instead. I never realized that there were so many different ways to self-harm; cutting was all I'd ever heard of. Most of the other shocking things I found at this website: http://www.selfharm.net/. To be honest, I didn't look at the whole site, I just read the Quotes from Personal Stories section. In that section I found that most of the people who wrote in it were cutters (which makes me believe that most of the people who engage in this behavior are cutters). The thing that shocked me was the number of people who were in their 20s and 30s, the length of time they had done it, and the very high amount of people who either were in college or had high degrees from college. I'm talking about M.A.s, Ph.Ds, teachers, medical personnal, business people, etc. I was completely shocked; I figured that most of the people who did this were in their teens to early twenties and had only been doing it awhile before they got help and stopped. This is not the case. I guess I just thought that they would realize that they needed to get help before they were in their 40s and 50s. I didn't see anyone posted on there who admitted to being in the psychology field, although it surprised me that many of the people who wrote in found it difficult to get treatment from a pscyhologist who was empathetic and truly helpful, instead of being rude, making ultimatiums, or telling them they couldn't treat this problem. Also, there were a LOT of stories about how medical professionals (doctors, nurses) were very rude, unsympathetic, etc. I didn't realize that people who are trained to help could be SO unhelpful. I attribute a lot of this to a lack of knowledge and training.... it's something that we never covered in any of my psychology classes before this (including Abnormal!) and I have a feeling that people in the medical field probably aren't trained or given any knowlege on how to deal with it as either. There seems to be an attitude of "Just don't do it." As anyone who has lived with someone whose tried to quit smoking (another area with that attitude) can attest, it's not that easy. From what I've read, self-injury becomes very much like an addiction, and is incredibly difficult to stop.
I felt the sources that I read were fairly accurate and gave good information. I especially liked that they told people on the Mayo Clinic website what not to do. I found it very helpful and in the testmoines that I read, found that advice would work with the people who told their stories.
As far as fitting this in with the GAM, I'm not sure it's a good fit. The GAM strikes me as being a great model for explaining dyadic violence, but when you are harming you, I find the model unhelpful. I really think that self-harm IS a type of violence, but one that may need a different model to explain.
While reading these resources on self-harm, I was most surprised by the extensive lists of behaviors that are included in self-harm categories. There are the more typical behaviors such as cutting and scratching, but there are a few behaviors that I never thought about as being in this same category of destructive behavior such as ingesting toxic materials, breaking one’s own bones, or pulling out hair. Of course I am familiar with these obscure behaviors, but I never thought of them officially in the self-harm category. This is most likely because they are not as talked about as cutting as self-harm behaviors. I thought these materials were extremely useful in causing me to recognize all of these behaviors as self-harm, which is important because if they educated me, they can also educate others. Another important point these resources on stressed was that self-harm behavior needs to be taken seriously and handled with extreme care and consideration. Most of the resources mention that within society there is a constructed myth about self-harm behavior in that the individuals engage in self-harm for attention. The resources all state this is a false accusation and the majority of individuals engage in this behavior to escape real emotional pain.
I am most interested in the causes of self-harm and why an individual engages in a particular self-harm behavior. These three resources did an adequate job in discussing these topics. I also found this website which I spent a lot of time browsing. http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/self-injury/self-injury-homepage/menu-id-65/
This is an awesome website. It has case studies of individuals who have engaged in self-harm, videos on self-harm for those who do not enjoy reading, diagnoses associated with self-harm behavior, transcripts of self-harm conferences and speakers, books and articles professionals and academics can use for research, other useful websites, and much more. This site really thinks outside the box and contains much more information and resources than a regular informational website. I also enjoyed the poetry/lyrics link. It contains poetry and lyrics about people struggling with their fight against self-harm.
I do think self-harm is a type of violence and to an extent, I think the GAM can somewhat be used in that the individuals cognitive perception of the environment and situation is relevant to the self-harm behavior. The GAM also incorporates the escalation of violence between two people. I think this could apply to individuals as well. The resources stated self-harm most likely occurs when the individual becomes so overwhelmed by emotions or when they feel emotionally empty. This occurs in an escalation phase and it involves how the person is evaluating the current situation and environment.
This assignment really hit home with me. I have had both friend and family implement self-harm to their bodies in different forms. One of my family members even took his self-harm far enough to take his own life.
I think the Mayo Clinic website does a great job at explaining what self-harm is. They define self-harm as, "...the act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself. It's not meant as a suicide attempt. Rather, self-injury is an unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration".
In all the cases where I have been a witness to acts of self-harm, every single person who took part in those kinds of activities was coping with at least one or more extremely emotional events in their life. Sometimes, the influence of alcohol had been a contributing factor which only intensified the already strong emotions of anger and frustration.
The Mayo Clinic does a great job, as well, at listing the symptoms of someone harming themselves, as well as some of the more common forms of self-harm. I won't list them all here, but I think it is really important for everyone to read this because it is really difficult sometimes to identify self-harm behavior. By knowing the different varieties of symptoms (for example, as the Mayo Clinic website lists, spending a lot of time alone and wearing long sleeves in public) people will have a better chance at piecing together someone who may be hurting themselves and get help. Someone who only spends time alone may not be in trouble, but if you can identify other risk factors along with that, you may end up literally saving a life.
The one thing I really liked about the American Self-Harm Information Clearinghouse website was that they shed some light on the different myths that surround self-harming behavior. One myth they list, for example, is that self-harm is just a failed suicide attempt. Another myth that really got to me is that people who harm themselves are just seeking attention. Both of these myths are incredibly false. I can speak from my experience with dealing with self-harm behavior that the people who do damage to themselves are not trying to kill themselves necessarily and they are not necessarily looking for attention. On a personal note that goes along with this, I had a roommate who cut herself to cope with some of the pain and depression she was feeling. She wasn't looking for attention and she did not want to kill herself. On the contrary, she had the biggest lust for life out of anyone I have ever known. The reason she hurt herself by cutting was so that she could have a distraction from all the depression and anxiety she was feeling. The pain of cutting herself was, as she put it, better than the emotional pain that she was feeling. Also, she never once sought my attention. She never tried to get me to feel sorry for her. She is a clear example of how two of the myths the ASIC website listed can be dispeled.
Another think I like about the ASIC website was that it listed links and documents people could read to get involved and learn more about self-harm and how they can help people. It is nice to know that there are ways we can get involved, as I am sure many people do not know how best to help people that harm themselves. I learned that you can request information and become a part of their team by passing out flyers, which I thought was really interesting. I actually may consider doing that myself.
Now on to our lovely friend, Wikipedia. Admittedly, I do not like this website for a variety of different reasons. The one thing I did like about their self-harm article, however, was that it pretty much summarized everything the first two websites also mentioned. They state that self-harm is most common in teens and young adults and they also list ways to make people aware and how to get help.
The thing I liked the most from Wikipedia is the flow-chart they had that showed precursors to self-harm. You can either have hyperstress, which makes you feel out of control, overwhelmed and unable to cope with situations at hand. Then there is a trigger and you harm yourself, which (evidently) makes you feel relaxed, relieved and calm. There is also dissociation where you just feel sad and numb to emotions. Then you also have a trigger, commit the act of self-harm, and then you are able to feel something. The flow chart was the most intresting thing because it helps people to understand why people may, in the very least, consider hurting themselves. While someone may not agree with the self-harm, it at least gives them a visual representation of how/why someone would feel the need to harm themselves. By having this idea in our heads, we can have a better shot at helping someone who we fear may be at risk for harming themself.
An interesting website I found that goes along with this is the Pieta House website.
http://www.pieta.ie/Are_you_selfharming.htm?gclid=CIOrwfiQ1KYCFUVqKgodNzTUHA
This is a website where people who need help to stop harming themselves and their families can go to seek therapy in an online setting. There is an e-mail where you can send questions and concerns and have a therapist get back to you. There is also a hotline you can call to get help or seek help for someone else. There are also links where people can volunteer, organize their own events, and even apply for jos at the Pieta House. They are based in Colorado, but help everyone.
I think this website would be very good for someone who has done self-harm or people who are concerned about friends or family members. It is nice to know that there are more organizations out there to help out with issues of self-mutilation and suicide. It only makes me sad to think that I learned about these kinds of organizations and websites when it was too late. The biggest gift anyone at risk of self-harm or who knows someone who hurts themself is education. By showing these websites and sharing this knowledge with other people, we can make a dent in self-harm behaviors (or, in the very least, a small one).
Self mutilation is something I am familiar with because I had friends that did it, and I have also worked with adolescents that do it. The information we were to read defined the act as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue without suicidal intent. I would argue that it could be considered a violent act because of the intent to harm, with the only difference being the harm is directed at one’s self instead of others. It could also be argued that it is not a violent act because often while self mutilation is occurring, the person is not being aggressive, but is calm. The various readings appeared to be informative and included a lot of information, ranging in facts, causes, history, and treatments.
It seems from the reading that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the facts of self mutilation. There were several myths mentioned, but the predominant one is that these individuals do it for attention. While that may occur occasionally, it does not represent the majority. Many times people do it for the feeling of relief afterwards or even just to feel something instead of nothing. Often these individuals suffer from feelings of emptiness or hopelessness and only want to feel something, even if it is pain.
Some interesting things I learned from the reading is that self harm occurs in animals as well, including birds and monkeys. I also was unfamiliar that poisoning one’s self fell into this category, which is obvious. The reading spoke of situations in developing countries where ingesting pesticides or other poisons was a common way to self harm. I feel this form of self harm is able to be kept much more secretive than the obvious visual injuries that cutting or burning can do. Unfortunately, I think this form of self harm could result in more accidental death due to not knowing how much could be too much when ingesting the poison. I was also pleased to learn that there is a Self-Injury Awareness Day on March 1st of every year. Individuals are able to be open about their self harm if they choose to be and certain agencies raise awareness about the issue. I feel this is a positive aspect to the issue due to the lack of knowledge to many.
I found the history section in the Wikipedia reading to be the most interesting. I had no idea that the concept of self harm had been studied and categorized in the early 20th century. The information regarding how different researchers categorized self harm into different classification systems was very interesting.
I think raising more awareness to this issue could benefit those who do participate in self harm behaviors because there will be more accessibility to help. This behavior is often very secretive and kept from even the people closest in their lives. In order for there to be any progress or help for those who self harm, everyone should be more educated in the topic.
Self harm behavior has become increasingly more well-known within the past ten years or so. What was once considered a characteristic of other diagnoses is now being treated as a possible solitary illness. It was very interesting how much this behavior affects adolescents and young adults. I remember when this sort of harm was rarely discussed as important (with anorexia and bulimia taking more of the focus as crucial dangers to that particular age range). I feel that around my adolescence is when self harm behavior (most noticeably in the form of cutting) first began to be noticed. Articles started showing up in magazines on how to identify/help those struggling with this behavior; adults often would talk about self harm behavior in assemblies and more.
Another interesting aspect of the self harm behavior that I did not realize was the gender differences (or lack thereof) included, and the elderly afflictions also. I always assumed that this was primarily a female affliction. When reading one of the articles, I was startled to discover the lack of a gender gap in a fairly recent study. It made me wonder, why then are females so often made “the face” of self harming behaviors? Maybe it is the method in which self harm is most evident, such abuse of drugs/alcohol (which is not always seen as a self harm criterion, although it can be self-destructive behavior). Then there are the elderly. Since this is often depicted as a “younger” affliction, it was somewhat surprising to discover a certain percentage of those who inflict harm upon themselves were over the ages of 65. Also, one would think those who were elderly and inflicting harm upon themselves would be trying to commit suicide, but that is not always the case either.
The extra article I decided to read was short, but it had exactly what I wanted to discuss: the effect of the internet in a social context related to self harm behavior. I believe this is more prevalent now then even five years ago, due to every younger generation being more adaptable online. Online, people can find anything they want. Even on self-help boards specifically designed for those engaged in self harm, there can be suggestions on how to hide their behaviors and more negative advice, due to the low monitoring of the boards. This sort of information can be influential on the younger ages especially, causing long-term damage and even accidental death. I just think this sort of topic should be mentioned in such a technical age.
I think we can conceptualize self injury as a form of violence, because it is a willful intent to cause harm. It should not matter whether the harm is meant for yourself or someone else. In the end, harm is still being done, and besides physical damage, psychological damage could also arise from this (as mentioned in many of the articles); guilt and shame to name a couple. Also, the inflictions are hidden much like one would hide abuse from another, which further distinguishes self harm behavior as a form of violence in my opinion. I do not think, however, the consequences should be the same. This is an odd case where the person is both the victim and the abuser. I think treating them with therapy is often the best case (as also mentioned in multiple articles), and if necessary, medicine too.
I am most interested in what leads a person to begin this in the first place. Did it first start at as an accident, and go from there? Or did they intentionally harm themselves just to see what it felt like? These are just a couple questions related to what could possibly begin a person’s self harming behavior initially.
I found my extra resource at: (The part labeled self-harm and message boards)
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20060501/pros-cons-for-kids-internet-use
One more of your choosing (provide link):
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-health/cutting-stats-treatment.html
What were you most surprised about in your reading?
One of the things I found most surprising and kind of comical was that animals are alleged to also engage in self-harm behavior. The idea just sounded completely ridiculous and out of left field when I first read it. I personally have to read more research on that topic before I buy in to that idea.
Another thing that surprised me was that the elderly population are also known to engage in self-harming behaviors. I had learned in previous psychology courses that the elderly population has a high rate of suicide, however, I had never stopped to think about self-injury among this population. Most people identify self-harming behaviors as being a teenage/young adult phenomenon. One thing that does make me wary about accounting injuries and suicides for that matter, in the elderly population is that often times it is abuse on the part of the care taker and not the elderly individual that causes these injuries or deaths. These often go undetected particularly if the individual suffers from neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
What is your evaluation of the quality of the resources you read?
I think that the overall quality of the resources were fairly good. Most of the resources on the websites provided consisted of legitimate psychological and medical journals. If I were doing research on the topic however, I would still look at the methodology of the articles to make note of any and all possible limitations that could have had an effect on the results and implications of the research presented.
Can the General Aggression Model explain self harm behavior?
The General Aggression Model is a good starting point when trying to explain self harm behavior. We first have the ‘Inputs’, which consist of person and situational variables. Then we move to ‘Routes’: cognition (thinking about an event for example), which then leads to affect (feelings about that event), and ends with arousal (those feelings causing anger and an urge to self-harm for instance). Last are the possible ‘Outcomes’ consisting of appraisal and decision processes (e.g. evaluating a situation and making a decision on how you are going to respond). The outcomes can involve either thoughtful action or impulse action. Thoughtful action of course involves, thinking through the situation and possible consequences of one’s actions, and deciding not to self-harm and/or engage in other forms of violence. Impulse action would thus involve engaging in violence/self-harm. So to illustrate how the General Aggression Model can explain self harm behavior, we can consider the following example I came up with:
‘Input’: Person and Situation---> A depressed 22 year old female named ‘Sally’ (person) in an abusive relationship (situation).
‘Routes’: Cognition, Affect, Arousal ---> Sally see’s a couple holding hands at the park which triggers her to think about her relationship (cognition). Seeing how happy the couple looks makes Sally feel sad and upset that her relationship is void of love and happiness (affect). These emotions cause Sally to feel like she has to do something about it (arousal).
‘Outcomes’: Appraisal and Decision Processes (Thoughtful Action)---> Sally realizes that she’s wants to be in a happy and loving relationship like the couple she see’s at the park. She decides to dump her boyfriend and seek therapy.
‘Outcomes’: Appraisal and Decision Processes (Impulse Action)--> Sally feels like she is responsible for being abused by her boyfriend. Her boyfriend mistreats her because she can’t do anything right. She is unattractive and nobody else will want her. She then decides to cut her forearm with a piece of broken glass she finds on the floor.
Can we conceptualize self injury as a form of violence?
Given the information presented previously, yes, self injury is a form of violence. Recall that the definition of violence involves intentionally inflicting physical/emotional harm on an individual. Just because these actions are directed towards the self, does not make them any less violent.
What were you most surprised about in your reading?
There were two things that really surprised me about self-harm: (1) it is not a suicide attempt and (2) the world map on wikipedia. 1. When reading about the reasoning and information behind why people participant in self-harm, I was surprised to read that these actions were not attempts at suicide. I knew a few people in high school that cut themselves, but I never really understand why they did it. They were clearly depressed and participating in other self-destructive behaviors like self-pisioning. Its hard to distinguish the difference between suicide attempts and self-harm behavior looking back at some of the things kids did to themselves in high school. 2. I was surprised when looking at the map on wikipedia to see that Asia was one of the country with the highest rate of self-harm. I would have thought the US would have been the highest with all the media coverage on teen suicide/depression/self-injury/ect.
What are you most interested in?
Some of the things that I found interesting while looking at the different sites was the reasons behind participating in self-harm behaviors. I thought it was interesting to see that some people inflicted pain upon themselves even through they did not feel anything. Also, it was interesting to see people doing it as a form of self punishment. I thought you could easily relate this reasoning to depression and self esteem problems. Another thing I thought was interesting on wikipedia was the chart of classifications and examples of self harm behaviors and seeing that piercings and tattoos were on the list. I think that those two types of "self-harm" are extremely common and most people would not consider them to be harming to the body. Personally, I have my ears pierced and a tattoo and I did not get them with the intentions to hurt myself, it was more of a way to individualize myself and use self expression, I didn't think when getting my tattoo "I really want to hurt myself with this."
What is your evaluation of the quality of the resources you read?
I found that mayo clinic and webMD was very scientific and not very specific to the information, it was just a generalization to what self-harm behaviors are. I liked browsing around on the ASHIC website, that had a lot of informative information and in enough detail to really understand self-harm behaviors. Even through I know that wikipedia is not the most reliable source, I found it really helpful and interesting while reading through the website, it had a lot of really good information.
Can the General Aggression Model explain self harm behavior?
I think the GAM could do a great job in explaining self harm behaviors. So of the things that the GAM takes into consideration includes personality and psychological processes, both of these things are important to why people participate in self harming behaviors. Especially psychological processes are important to self harm behaviors and the outcomes of harming yourself. If someone is thinking that the only way that they can deal with certain feelings or dissatisfaction with themselves is to harm themselves, then they begin to process self harming behaviors as ok and normal.
Can we conceptualize self injury as a form of violence?
I think we can definitely consider self harm as violent. As defined in the handbook violence is the most severe type of physical aggression that is likely to cause serious bodily harm, cutting and burning can certainly fit under this category. Also we talked about how aggression is an act to intentionally cause harm to a person, so think we could consider self harm as an aggressive form of violence.
Additional website used: WebMD http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/cutting-self-harm-signs-treatment
All of the websites, plus mine http://helpguide.org/mental/self_injury.htm, discuss what self-harm is, why it happens, how to help, when to help, and who is typically affected by it. Self-harm is the process of harming oneself without suicide intent. I have always known what harming oneself is, but I have never really realized that the definition is separate from harm that is intended to result in suicide. I have never really looked up the professional definition. I knew how bad self-harm has begun, but didn’t realize how extensively it has spread.
They also talk about why people self-harm. The biggest reason is to cope with emotional abuse/problems and physical abuse. Many people use this as a way to get their anger out, or to feel something. Another reason is if they have a mental disorder. The biggest illness associated with self-harm is depression.
They talk about the myth that people do it for attention. I have always felt strongly that this is a bogus reason. Many people might think others do it for attention; however, usually people are ashamed that they have done these things and try to hide it. I have seen this over and over with friends that I've had that have done this. There are some people that do it for attention though. These people see it as a “popular” type action that is “cool”. I think those people are the real people with problems.
They discuss how people should get help. When they realize what is going on, they should try to get people help. It is important to make sure if you are going to suggest help or get it for someone who is doing this that you are sensitive about it. It is important to make sure the person knows you care about them and want them to get better. It is also important to make sure that you don’t tell them to stop the behavior, because they will withdraw from you and start hiding it more.
They discuss who is most likely to do this behavior. It is not the same on each website. Overall I got the idea that more girls are likely, however, boys are also people who do this. It is ages 13-24 usually, yet the elderly can also participate. The most common form is cutting and burning.
Some of the ways to help someone who does is this is psychotherapy. They can be taught other ways to cope with these problems as well as confronting why they do it in the first place. Sometimes if the person has depression or other mental illnesses, medication can help.
I think the resources were well researched. I think they are reliable and good resources to direct others to if they need/want to look it up. I like how they differentiate between self-harm and suicidal harm. I also think that they did well to organize the information.
We can definitely conceptualize this as violence. As I discussed in another post, it is severe and can end in severe bodily injury. It is typically not wanted, even though the person does it to themselves. They intend it for different reasons, usually emotional release, however they are typically ashamed afterwards and do not want to hurt themselves.
I also discussed how the GAM can explain this in my other post. I believe the single episode cycle explains this. For Person/Situation people have the attitude that nobody understands them and that don’t have a way to let out whatever they are experiencing. These attitudes negatively contribute to their actions. They also may put themselves in situations which enhance these feelings.
For Internal States, the actual process of self-harm gives people a release that arouses them and makes them feel less “out of control”. They know that doing these behaviors will give them the “release”, and get the “high” that is affected by their physiological components. This affects the next aspect of the single episode cycle: Outcomes.
For Outcomes, I think that the immediate appraisal process is really a key factor. They know that they will immediately feel the effects of self-harm, so they impulsively do it when they get into situations that confirm their attitudes. The book talks about how the immediate appraisal process may include anger-related affect. For many people this is true. They get angry so they self-harm, without thinking.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-162575831.html
With this assignment we read about what self harm is, how to get help for it, and what can cause it such as different psychological diseases (depression) and substance abuse. We also learned how to recognize the signs of a self harmer.
The thing that surprised me the most about the reading was that some animals self harm. Monkeys, dogs, and captive birds are among some of the animals that have been seen demonstrating self harm.
Another thing that surprised me is that self harm is usually not a cry for attention. It’s more internal and personal. It was interesting to read about why people self harm. It’s about feeling something when you feel empty, distraction, punishment or control. I can understand this and not at the same time. It’s hard for me to understand wanting to feel something so badly that you need to harm yourself and I don’t understand how it becomes addicting. At the same time I can understand wanting a rush or a distraction because I love to do spontaneous and risky things like taking random vacations, and investing in new ideas. Also I love the rush of doing things like seeing how fast a car can go and going on rollercoasters.
I think self harm can be violent because it can cause serious, deliberate harm. The handbook definition does not allow me to say that all self harm is violent but I can say some. I’m not sure self harm could be explained by the GAM. The GAM explains dyadic violence very well but self harm doesn’t exactly fit.
The website I included is one comparing tattoos and piercings to self harm. It is generally agreed that tattoos and piercings are not self harm. The interesting part is the similarities of certain emotions between people who have tattoos and piercings and people who self harm. It was found greater levels and prevalence of depression in people who are tattooed and pierced than in those who are not. Does this mean anything? Maybe, or maybe not. This could be something I could further research. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bashing people who have tattoos and piercings. I have 3 tattoos and I have had some crazy piercings. I also know I have gotten 2 of my tattoos for very deep reasons. Piercings for me were different. I got piercings at times when I was going through difficult things. The pain of the piercings felt like a release of negative energy and they temporarily made me feel better. They were also a great distraction from what I was feeling. I didn’t really do it for a certain look. Is that self harm? Possibly. And we don’t know how many people get piercings for these reasons but I know there are others. This topic, to me, is very interesting. I guess self harm has a lot to do with the reason and it's an important distinguishing factor.
Self injury can be defined as an individual’s unhealthy way to deal with emotional pain they are experiencing as well as frustration and anger. Self injury is often done on impulse and afterwards the individual usually feels guilty and is ashamed which only leads them to feel experience more negative emotions.
The resources I read were very informative on this subject. I thought they all did a decent job including information on every aspect of self injury. They weren’t limited to just talking about what self injury is. They expanded that and went on to talk about symptoms, causes, and different forms of self injury as well as when and how to set up an appointment to talk with someone, what you can expect at a doctor’s visit. A couple of the articles also go into types of treatment available, coping and support tips, and ways to reduce the risk of self injury (prevention). Prevention is a huge concept when talking about helping others deal with issues they are having. Prevention strategies include communities, individuals, parents, school systems, doctors, etc who all have an important part. I think prevention strategies can go along way to help save someone from engaging in self harming behaviors.
One of the websites had a section about different forms of self-injury which I thought was pretty interesting. I think the most common form of self injury is cutting which we hear about most often regarding self injury. Breaking bones, hitting or punching, head banging, biting, and interfering with wound healing were forms of self injury I hadn’t really heard much about. The topic of biting as a form of self injury got me thinking about when my little brother used to bite his arm all the time when he got frustrated and mad which didn’t happen too often. He wouldn’t yell or scream; instead he would simply bite himself. I remember telling him repeatedly to stop doing that because he would end up with marks all over his arms when he got older. Thinking back on those times, I wouldn’t have considered that type of behavior as a form of self injury. Interfering with wound healing was another form of self injury that I thought was kind of interesting. It’s one thing to pick at scabs because they look funny, but it’s another thing to want to continually have an open wound. Something else I found quite interesting was in the Mayo Clinic article under the section “complications”. It states, people who self injure are also more likely to get into car accidents”---what?! I think it would be interesting to look into studies that suggest such a relationship exists. I am also interested in learning more about the different types of treatment options available to individuals who engage in self injury behaviors such as psychotherapy (more specifically cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy).
I think we can definitely conceptualize self injury as a form of violence. For a behavior to be violent, it must cause deliberate harm to someone. This “someone” could be me inflicting deliberate harm against myself.
My choice website: http://helpguide.org/mental/self_injury.htm
I was surprised to read about the use of self-harm by inmates. It had not occurred to me that they would use that as a form of intimidation (showing they are tough by enduring pain) or a form of weakness (feigning injury to seek refuge from a guard). I had not considered that a type of violence that inmates would use; I moreso considered violence occurring in a jail to be between inmates and to gain power over others.
I also liked the mention of self-harm happening in the animal kingdom. I have witnessed birds who have plucked their feathers out or monkeys who slam against the wall. I never thought about what might causes these behaviors. Now that I see it might be the 'trapped' feeling that captivity brings. If an animal is taken from their home and then placed in a foreign area with walls around them and humans everywhere, it can have a traumatizing effect on the animal. They may feel that acting out is their way to cope with confused feelings.
I found the Mayo Clinic site to be very informative, although a few of the sections were quite short. Knowing it is a medical website gives it credibility toward the quality of the information. I thought it gave a lot of detail toward the treatments and therapy that someone could choose to help them deal with their self-injury. The Wikipedia site, although sometime's unreliable, also gave a wealth of information. I liked seeing the history side of self-injury and more of the cultural aspect.
The resource I used was http://www.essortment.com/articles/self-injury_100006.htm
and I liked that it gave a personal story telling how she progressed from simple self injury at a young age to contemplating suicide when she got older. That shows us a specific account of how self harm can progress into a very dangerous realm.
I'm not sure that the GAM really can explain self-harming behavior. The GAM does very well in explaining violence between other people, whether they be two individuals, two groups, or two countries. However, self-harm is only involving the one person. I do think that self-harm is a form of violence because it is deliberate pain or injury directed toward someone. Although they are doing it to themselves, they are also 'escaping' pain in that sense. They are both the one committing the violence and the one trying to run from the violence.
I think it's important for us to be aware of the signs of a self-harmer. As a future teacher, I know I need to watch for cuts on the arms or excessive bruises. However, I do know that kids today are getting more and more creative in hiding their wounds. Part of it is being aware of their other behavior. It does not have to be purely the physical signs showing injury. It could also be the changes in their attitude, lack of interest, or other personality changes. If we are aware or at least watchful for these changes, we may be able to help prevent some of these youth from hurting themselves.
I really liked the Mayo Clinic website. The way it was set up made the information really easy to follow and very interesting. At the same time, I thought that some of the things they referred to/said about cutting are a little opinionated for a scientific-type website. All the same, it was a really great way to get information out about self harm behaviors. The Mayo Clinic is a good place to search for medical-related topics like this one, as they are known to be a very reliable and prestigious source of information. I was surprised at the amount of information that is on the internet about self-harm behaviors, a lot of which was really helpful when trying to understand these issues. Wikipedia, which is not known for it’s reliability, even provides some good information on the topic. In addition to the sites provided, I (and a few others that have posted above me) found some great facts and insight about cutting and self-harm at:
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/cutting-self-harm-signs-treatment
I was surprised when I kept reading that many people think that self-harm behaviors are the same as suicide attempts. While I can see the relationship between the two, I have never mistaken one for the other. I’ve always been taught that people cut or self-harm to relieve a sense of pain or intense stress in their lives, not to kill themselves. I was also surprised to find that many people who engage in these behaviors spend a great deal of time trying to hide it or cover it up. I guess it’s because of all of the punk/emo songs that were popular a few years ago that were so open about cutting and pain that made me think that most of the people who cut don’t bother to hide it are fairly open with the fact that they cut.
What I gathered from these articles is that there are many ways of engaging in self-harm, not just cutting. I also learned that problems with cutting can be the sign of a much deeper psychological problem. The emotions and thoughts that are stemming behind cutting can cause the victim a lot more pain than the cutting itself. The Mayo Clinic website also refers to the causes of self-harm behavior can be different for everyone. The site mentions that some people may cut because they want to feel anything, even if it is physical pain. It’s hard for me to put myself in a position where I cannot feel any emotions, but this is a common thread among the websites on this topic. I can’t decide if this is referring to a sadness/depression that is so deep you become numb, or if it’s more of a neutral feeling that lacks happiness.
In its formal definition, self-harm does not include drug or alcohol abuse. Because drugs and alcohol do not involve tissue damage, they have been excluded from the definition of self-harm. I, however, think that there needs to be some sort of recognition in this area. Last semester, I took a class on the effects that drugs can have on your mind and body. The things that people will do to themselves just to get high are unbelievable. Every time I left that class I couldn’t help but thinking, “why would anyone do that to their body?” While these people are not directly cutting their skin or burning themselves, they are definitely causing serious damage to their organs by abusing drugs.
I think that we can definitely use the GMA to put self-harm under the “violence” category. It involves all of the three main aspects; input, route, and outcome. The internal emotions and situational environment would definitely influence the decision to self-harm, as well as the different routes of violence. The definition of violence was to cause direct harm to someone, so I think it’s only right to include yourself as that “someone.”
I was really surprised at the number of elderly who participate in self harm behaviors. I had assumed that most people who use self injury as a coping mechanism were younger. I figured that eventually after the crazy roller coaster of adolescence and early adulthood passed people found better ways to cope with stress and no longer needed to self harm. As I see, I was wrong. I also found it interesting that self harm behaviors have been found in animals. I knew that animals in captivity had occasionally been found harming themselves, but I had no idea that those in natural habitats also exhibited these behaviors.
I liked all the websites and feel they all provided great information. The wiki link had interesting statistics on prevelances world wide, which was interesting. I don't remember as good of details on this in any of the other links. Mayo clinic seemed to summerize all aspects of self harm without going into too much depth.
One site included some forms of eating disorders and substance abuse as self injury, while other information says these are not considered self injuries and that wanting to inflict tissue damage is one of the criteria. I have wondered about this because there are people who do ot drink to be drunk, but drink so they can escape reality until the hangover and illness set in. They know it will hurt when they sober up, but need to be gone from their own heads for a bit. this seems to be more like self injury than having a drinking problem when it is not a common behavior for the person. That said, I can also see why this is not considered to be self injury, for the lack of injury and the fact that an occasional night of drunkeness is socially more acceptable.
the site I visited seems to be written from a more personal level (it does not say that explicetly, its something I've inferred). While the information seems to be well researched, I have my concern that the last few paragraphs seem to belittle the medical professionals who help these individuals who self harm. I have to wonder if the assumption that emergency room officials will stigmatize individuals who self injure is accurate. I would think that medical professionals would be trained to treat people without bias, but I could be wrong. They are still humans and are very capable of judging others. Other than the comments against emergency room help, I thought the site provided helpful information to those seeking to learn more about self injury behaviors.
http://www.selfinjury.org/docs/factsht.html