Treatments
- Psychotherapy. Teens who cut should be evaluated and treated by counselors or psychologists who have experience in...
- Psychiatry. An evaluation by a child psychiatrist (a medical doctor who can prescribe drugs) might also be a good idea...
- Treatment Center. You might look for a treatment center in your area that specializes in cutting. ...
Full Answer
What is the treatment for cutting in teens?
Treatment for cutting will likely focus on helping the teen develop healthier coping mechanisms when faced with feelings of anger, stress, or sadness. It will also help boost a teen's self-esteem, help manage any underlying psychiatric problems, and help make sure that the teen isn't having thoughts of suicide.
What do you do when your child cuts themselves off?
Just try and be as strong as you can and don’t give up, ever. Fight to Live Your Life. My son admitted to cutting a few months ago. He’s been hospitalized. He’s been in therapy for over a year. On antidepressants. They put him on anxiety medications which he abused. He admitted to this.
How do you deal with a 13 year old who cut?
Advanced Search Don’t freak out. Check your anxiety. Ask them if they want to talk about it, and create opportunities for them to talk. Don’t embarrass them by telling all your friends. Know your limits. Don’t tell them to stop cutting. Create a plan. Spend one-on-one time with your teen.
What does it mean when a teenager cuts themselves?
Instead, it just means they're having trouble coping with their pain in a healthy manner. The physical act of hurting their bodies provides a temporary sense of emotional relief. A teen who cuts himself (or burns himself) begins to focus on the injury as the reason for the pain.
Why is cutting a person dangerous?
Because it involves physical damage to the sufferer, cutting understandably evokes distress and fear in others. Viewed on a continuum, self-harming behavior can easily—though not always accurately—be interpreted as a precursor to suicidal behavior.
How to stop hurting yourself?
If you have hurt yourself, write down what caused it to happen so in the future you can prevent it from happening. Play some kind of musical instrument. Even if you don’t really know how to play, picking out tunes is a way to concentrate and help get rid of the urge to harm yourself. Yoga. Allow yourself to cry.
What is self injury?
Self-injury for these adolescents isn’t just a part of them, it is them—it defines their sense of self. When a therapist or other caregiver helps a young woman reconnect with her identity, especially who she was as a child, it can be a powerful entry point for effective therapy and can help correct the problem.
What to do if a therapist is not a caregiver?
If she is not, the concerned therapist, friend, or caregiver must report the abuse or neglect to the proper authorities and obtain professional counseling for the adolescent. Therapists, parents and other caregivers send a message of compassion and concern when they remove the obvious, easily-accessible objects.
What is the only control we have over our own children?
it’s important to remember that the only control we have over any human being, including our own children, is the power of persuasion that exists within our relationship with her. Our relationships should be built on alliance, not compliance.
How to deal with a swollen leg?
Learn to confront others respectfully/make your own feelings known instead of keeping them inside. Go outside and scream and y ell.
Can adolescent therapy help with cutting?
With the epidemic in cutting that has erupted in the past several years, adolescent therapies—and therapists—have had a tough time keeping up. There are, however, a number of tried and true, research-supported approaches to therapy that can help adolescents manage and overcome the impulse to cut or self harm.
How to help a teenager who is cutting?
If your teen is cutting, there ways to help. By coping with your own feelings, learning about cutting, finding professional help, and just being there to love and believe in your teen, you'll provide the calm, steady support that he or she needs. Accept your own emotions.
Why do teens cut?
Some teens cut because of peer pressure — and once they start, they can't easily stop. Other teens feel pressure to be perfect and struggle to accept failures or mistakes. And still others contend with powerful moods like anger, sadness, worthlessness, and despair that feel hard to control or too heavy to bear.
What does cutting affect?
Cutting affects many teens and preteens — even beyond those who self-injure. Many teens worry about a friend who cuts or face pressure from peers to try cutting as a daring thing to do. In many cases, cutting and the emotions that go along with it are something teens struggle with alone.
Why does it hurt to cut a child?
Cutting is sometimes the result of trauma and painful experiences that no one knows about. It can hurt to think that your child might experience any of these feelings. As difficult as it is, try to keep in mind that exploring what pressures prompt your teen to self-injure is a necessary step toward healing.
How to help a child with stress?
Be aware that you can influence how your child responds to stress and pressure by setting a good example. Notice how you manage your own emotions and deal with everyday frustrations, stress, and pressure. Notice whether you tend to put others down, or are self-critical or quick to anger.
Is it your fault if your teen doesn't come to you?
All of these emotions are completely understandable. But it's not your fault, and it's not your teen's fault. Take time to identify your own feelings and find a way to express them.
Why is it important to treat a teen who is cutting?
It is critical to seek treatment for your teen right away if she is cutting, both to help treat any underlying psychiatric problems, like depression or anxiety and to prevent cutting from becoming a bad habit. The longer a teen cuts herself, the harder it becomes to break the habit.
When do teens cut themselves?
Cutting is most common in teens and young adults—especially among teen girls—and often starts around age 12-14. 2 . Teens who cut themselves are usually described as being impulsive. Some are also described as being overachievers. In terms of warning signs and red flags, your teen may be cutting if she:
What are the signs that a teenager is cutting?
In terms of warning signs and red flags, your teen may be cutting if she: Always wears long-sleeved shirts or long pants (even when the weather is warm) to cover new cutting marks or older scars on her arms, wrists, or thighs (those are common areas of the body where cutting occurs) Routinely has suspicious cuts, scratches, or burns on her belly, ...
How does cutting help teens?
Treatment for cutting will likely focus on helping the teen develop healthier coping mechanisms when faced with feelings of anger, stress, or sadness. It will also help boost a teen's self-esteem, help manage any underlying psychiatric problems, and help make sure that the teen isn't having thoughts of suicide .
What is cutting in 2020?
Cutting is a type of self-harm in which teens deliberately cut or scratch themselves with knives, razor blades, or other sharp objects, but not with any intention of trying to commit suicide. Other self-harm behaviors can include head-banging, branding or burning their skin, overdosing on medications, and strangulation.
Why do kids cut?
While it is sometimes seen as an attention-seeking behavior, cutting is a way for kids to release tension, relieve feelings of sadness or anger, or distract themselves from their problems. Of course, any relief is only temporary.
Who should be evaluated for a cut?
Teens who cut should be evaluated and treated by counselors or psychologists who have experience in treating teens with this particular condition. These types of professionals are skilled at talk therapy and can provide a safe, non-judgmental space in which your teen can speak openly about the problems that she's facing.
What are the ways of lessening bad feelings called?
Just as everyone experiences stress in unique ways, everyone deals with stress in different ways. These ways of lessening bad feelings are called "coping mechanisms. ". There are healthy coping mechanisms, like: Psychologists have found that self-injury can rapidly get rid of tension and other bad feelings.
How to help someone with self injury?
But seeing a counselor or joining a support group will likely help to ease the frequency and severity of self-injury. Intense negative feelings may cause a person to feel isolated from the rest of the world, so a social support system is important to fight self-injury.
Why do teens inflict injury on themselves?
Most teens who inflict injury on themselves do so because they are experiencing stress and anxiety. Besides cutting and scratching, hitting, biting, picking at skin, and pulling out hair are some of the other ways teens use self-injury to cope with intensely bad feelings.
Why is it important for teens to learn healthy coping strategies?
That's why it's crucial that teens learn safe, healthy, effective coping strategies so they can deal with anxiety and stress appropriately into adulthood.
What are the dangers of self injury?
Self-injury. Psychologists have found that self-injury can rapidly get rid of tension and other bad feelings. But, like drugs and alcohol, self-injury provides only a quick fix. Besides the physical consequences, one danger of self-injury is that the habit can last into adulthood.
How did Amanda release her feelings?
And self-injury gradually became a ritual: Every time Amanda was in a stressful or uncomfortable situation, she would "release" the bad feelings by cutting her left arm with her nails or even with a razor blade. She carefully concealed the scars to avoid questions from friends and family.
What to do when you have a bad feeling?
If you have urges to self-injure, or have already done so, confide in someone who can help you find a better way to cope with bad feelings. That might be a parent, an older sibling, a minister, a rabbi, a guidance counselor, health care practitioner, psychologist, social worker, or another trusted adult.
What to do if a teen is self harming?
If you are concerned that your teen is engaging in self-harm it is important to remain calm and talk about the behavior with your teen without judgment. It’s essential that you seek treatment right away.
Why do teens cut?
In other cases, teens might turn to cutting to feel pain in an effort to get away from a feeling of emotional numbness. Following cutting, teens can experience feelings of shame and guilt. This perpetuates the cycle of overwhelming emotions followed by negative coping strategies. It can become a dangerous cycle that is difficult to break.
Why do teens turn to social media?
The problem, however, is that it’s easy to decline the offer and proceed to the potentially triggering content. Teens sometimes turn to social media to find support, but they also turn to social media to validate or normalize their self-harm.
Why is group work important for teens?
Group work can be beneficial in helping teens connect with other teens and support one another through the recovery process. If symptoms are severe or potentially dangerous, hospitalization might be necessary. If you are concerned that your teen is engaging in ...
What does it mean to cut yourself?
Self-harm or cutting means hurting yourself on purpose. Cutting into the skin is the most widely known form of self-harm, but burning the skin, picking at wounds to prevent healing, picking at skin, biting or scratching at the skin, ingesting poison or pills without intent to die by suicide, and pulling out hair are all methods of self-harm.
How does social media affect teens?
Social Media and Self-Harm Helping a Teen that Self-Harm. Everyone experiences stress, anxiety, and low moods at times. But stress and emotional shifts can feel different for different people, particularly for teens navigating the murky waters of adolescence. While some teens might feel jumpy or afraid when they’re under stress, ...
Why do kids cut their legs?
Cutting is a form of self-injury -- the person is literally making small cuts on his or her body, usually the arms and legs. It's difficult for many people to understand. But for kids, cutting helps them control their emotional pain, psychologists say. This practice has long existed in secrecy.
How can parents help their kids with stress?
Parents can help by providing emotional support, helping identify early warning signs, helping kids distract themselves, lowering the child's stress level , and providing supervision at critical times, Rosen says.
Can a girl get stitches without anesthesia?
There are all kinds of stories of girls getting stitched without anesthetic. The thing is, after they've self-injured, the girls are calmer -- so when they're getting stitches, they feel the pain. Yet the doctor is angry, wants to get this over with.". Psychotherapy should be the first step in treatment, Lader adds.
Should psychotherapy be the first step in treatment?
Psychotherapy should be the first step in treatment, Lader adds. The SAFE web site has a list of doctors who have been to her lectures, who want to work with self-injurers. With other therapists, ask if they have any expertise in working with self-injurers. "Some therapists have a fear reaction to it.
Why do Cinderella's sisters cut their feet?
Just as Cinderella’s sisters in the original, horrific version of the famous fairy tale, cut their feet to get them into a tiny shoe, girls and women have always turned their anger and fear on themselves, the unknown mom writes. Like the stepsisters, some may even do it to fit into a social group.
How did the mother discover her daughter's self harming behavior?
She discovered her daughter’s self-harming behavior by accident. When a wound to her daughter’s foot became seriously infected, the mother was not prepared for what she saw when her daughter was admitted to a hospital: “When the nurses undressed her, she struggled to conceal her forearms,” the mother writes.
How can mental health intervention help adolescents?
Research shows that mental health intervention, a safe, positive environment, and coping skills can help adolescents and teens develop effective tactics for Discovery Mood and Anxiety . The goal of Discovery Mood and Anxiety is recovery.
What percentage of self injurers are female?
60 percent of those who engage in self injurious behavior are female. 50 percent of those who engage in self mutilation begin around age 14. Many self injurers learned how to do it from friends. Nearly two million cases are reported annually in the U.S.
How to stop self injury?
Avoid panic and overreaction. Do not show shock or revulsion at what they’ve done. Do not use threats in an attempt to stop the behavior. Do not allow them to recount the self injury experience in detail -it may trigger another attempt. Get appropriate help immediately from qualified mental health professionals.
What is the most common form of self injury?
According to the Child Mind Institute, the most common form of self-injury is cutting or scratching the skin with something sharp enough to cause bleeding, such as razor blades or metal household items such as paperclips or pen caps. Some kids self-injure by burning themselves or picking at their skin.
What are the triggers of a teen mental health crisis?
The Triggers in Teen Mental Health Crisis. The urge to self-harm is usually triggered by an event in a young person’s life. The most common “trigger” for cutting is feeling rejected, the experts say. It might be the loss of a boyfriend, close friends, or a general feeling of being isolated.
Elliott
I know that we all want our kids to talk to us, but soemtimes we may not feel like we are the safest person for them to talk to from their point of view. I think thast for many it is all about recognizing and understanding that we are very aware of what is going on, that it could hurt them, and that we wnat to help in any way possible.
SiSi
I just found out yesterday that my daughter is cutting herself. This is the first time she has done this. She and her father are butting heads. I talked to her calmly to try and find out the issue. She talked a little but not much. I let her lay in my bed with me and we watch tv until she fell asleep. I am concerned though.
millie
How do you not overreact as a parent? You see your kids doing something that could so obviously hurt them and you want to jump in and protect them and stop the behavior.
raoul
This is going to be soemthing that is difficult for any parent out there. Why are they doing this to cry out for help when they could simply ask? I think that this is a question that many of us would struggle with and there could be no easy answer for that exact question.
Harry
I guess I am out of the loop but I had honestly never heard of teens doing this until we learned that our own daughter was one of the ones who did. We did freak out a little before taking a huge step back and deciding that the better tactic was to try to get to the root of the issue instead of yelling and crying.
alex25
Thanks for sharing. Its reassuring to know others have gone through this – very very new to us – as of two hours ago! What did you find worked to help your daughter and how is she now? Thanks :)
Hunter
Don’t you think that there will be those times when teens want to talk but if it isn’t what the parents want to talk about then there is no conversation at all? That makes me sad to think about how many miised opportunities there could be just because we are “too busy” or really just don’t want to listen to what they have to say.
What to do when your child cuts you?
Although becoming undone when you see that your child has cut him or herself makes perfect sense, do your best to stay calm. Your child needs help, and the first line of defense is your pediatrician.
What to do if your clinician is rude?
If your clinician seems rude or intolerant, seek another healthcare provider . At the end of the day, self-cutting is common and highly treatable. Those are the take-home messages. Stay calm, get help, and know that this behavior responds well to intervention. Thanks for visiting the Clay Center.
