Why do teens use self-injury as a coping mechanism - Research Paper Example

?Why do teens use self-injury as a coping mechanism Introduction: This paper is primarily based on a largely unspoken and hushed issue, regardingthe growing incidence of self-abuse or self-injury in adolescents and teens, that is even considered a taboo topic in some parts of the world. It is a fact that as the materialism and modernism are increasing at a fast face all over the globe, the probability of self-injury is also mounting at an astounding pace in the teens. Myriad critical reasons form the bedrock of the self-abusing tendency in teens and a complex and intricate meshwork of crude realities needs to be scrutinized for identifying the major factors. These factors should explain the reason why more and more teenagers are readily seeking refuge in self-injury mechanism. People are oblivious to many distressing realities concerning this issue and this paper is basically an effort to highlight the relation between problems faced by teenagers and increased tendency of self-abusing. Facts and discussion presented in this paper are basically meant to illuminate the reality of the claim that “more and more teenagers are using self-injury as a coping mechanism because they are unable to relate their aggravated problems to their parents, peers, or teachers because of poor self-esteems, low morals, and continuous feelings of guilt and shame.” In my opinion, this state or claim is unequivocally based on a factual and reality-based approach, which is backed up by authentic research reports that are discussed in this paper. 2. Poor communication and social relationships lead to self-harming tendency: Considering the fact that self-injury or self-mutilation is a process that is totally unsupervised and largely handled hideously, it is difficult to accurately assess the prevalence of this habit in teenagers. Still, research suggests that over 2 to 3 million Americans may engage in self-mutilation process in an order to cope with their aggravated psychological, behavioral or societal problems. It is a matter of great distress that owing to the lack of communication opportunities and poor social relationships, there comes a time when teenagers feel more prone to self-abusing. Depression forms the key element that readily leads to the creation of self-abusing tendency in teenagers. It is an unequivocal fact that depression is highly capable of paralyzing one’s thinking, self-assessing, and comprehending abilities. Therefore, one finds oneself eventually trapped in a tight spot where one can neither hear any voice from the outside world that is normal nor translate the inner rushed and psychic emotions that are abnormal into something that could be understood by the people surrounding that person. An increased number of teenagers are selecting self-harm as a way of emotional projection in the hope of coping with horribly bizarre feelings of numbness, shame, regret and for punishing themselves for certain past failures. 3. Inability of parents and teachers to help teenagers increases self-harm incidence: Self-harm is a horrendous and powerful reality that affects all teenagers irrespective of social, racial, ethnic, or economic differences. It is an issue of concern around the globe that what majorly makes most of the distressed and disappointed teenagers seek refuge in self-harm in spite of the presence of parents at homes and teachers at schools. Research suggests that teenagers engage in self-destructive behavior because they find it increasingly difficult to relate their gross problems with their parents as the depression intensifies. With ever-heightening materialistic approach, most of the parents are unable to share more time with their families due to which, teenagers find it impossible to verbally communicate the nature of their problems in the short time their parents spare them. Nearly same is the scenario experienced by such depressed and anguished teenagers at the schools, where owing to increased cultural diversity and number of students, teachers are unable to relate to all the students individually. Unfamiliarity with culturally responsive pedagogies renders teachers incapable of listening to their students and this inculcates the feeling of emptiness in the troublesome students. 4. Inability to process emotions into words leads to self-harm: “Of those teenagers that regularly engage in self-harm, an estimated 64 percent use cutting as their preferred method.” (Healthtree.com, 2011). Actually, the fact that needs to be realized is that teenagers who engage in self-harm as a means of dealing with their out of control emotions, do not really intend to end their lives. Rather, inability to translate the inner gross feelings into words renders such teenagers to use certain harmful items for abusing themselves and this actually decreases their anxiety and stress to a manageable level though for the time being. Self-harming approach is employed by those teenagers who face socio-economic, educational, or domestic problems on a daily basis or every now and then for venting out their rage on themselves. If this misconception is prevalent in the teenagers who habitually self-abuse that they are the ones responsible for all the wild issues erupting around them, then it presents another facet of the situation that explains why teenagers engage in the self-destructive and overwhelmingly painful mechanism of self-harm. It is a reality that the children of those parents who vehemently fight with each other very often and overlook the resulting emotional disturbances affecting their kids, are more likely to abuse themselves physically in an order to feel normal and human for a short time. Inhuman activities related to physical self-harm makes such oppressed children feel human for some time and a time comes soon enough when they start paying the price of that short period of sanity at a daily basis. Such children having domestic problems start blaming themselves for all the issues and when the brutal reality hits them that they are not in a position to affect any of their parents, they find refuge in physically harming themselves. 5. Curiosity and peer pressure also increase likelihood of self-harm: (Derouin and Bravender, 2004, pp. 12-18) mention various reasons in their research report that link the self-abusing tendency in the youth to risk-taking or rebellious attitudes. Some of the facts related in the report go against the claim presented in this paper that teenagers engage in self-harm owing to low self-esteems, self-blaming approach, and poor morals. This is a social reality that teenage is such an age period during which curiosity, peer pressure, and the risk-taking behavior is commonly seen in adolescents. Rebellion and defiance also form a dominant feature of the behaviors of most of the teenagers, due to which they engage in such activities that are not socially acceptable and go against the ethical standards. It is from the friends at schools and colleges where most teenagers learn that physical self-abuse is actually a way to feel better and buoyant in spite of the looming prospect of worrisome issues. Teenage is also an age period where parents lose importance to their children and friends or social circle gains dominance. This presents the fact that children ultimately fall in the silken snare of self-harm because of the original intentions of exploring the unexplored issues in life and feeling the wild thrill, curiosity, and suspense associated with self-harming behavioral tendency. Some teenagers also fall for this mutilated behavior so that they can show their friends how courageous and fearless they are which depicts their incomplete psychological and behavioral development. 6. Conclusion: Summing up, this much becomes clear from the above discussion that the prevalence of horrendous self-harming tendency in the teenagers raises an issue of intense concern and demands immediate attention from the parents and teachers. Though peer pressure at the schools may make a significant part of the reasons teenagers fall for self-harm, this remains an established fact that poor communication, regrets over the past failures, and inability to process the wild emotions into words makes teenagers engage in self-injuring process. References: Derouin, A. & Bravender, T. (2004). Living on the Edge: The Current Phenomenon of Self-mutilation in Adolescents. American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, 29, 12-18. Hartwell-Walker, M. (2009). Teens who self-harm. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2009/teens-who-self-harm/all/1/. Healthtree.com. (2011). Teens and Self-Harm. Retrieved from http://www.healthtree.com/articles/teen-behavior/self-harm/ Read More