Self harm among British teenagers: fashion trend or addiction?
Heinrich-Heine-Gymnasium
Schuljahr: 2014/2015
Jahrgangsstufe: Q1
Name:
Facharbeit im LK: Englisch
Kursleiter: Herr Hüskes
Self harm among British teenagers - fashion trend or addiction?
Abgabetermin: 21. März 2015
Table of contents
page
Introduction 3
Main part
1. SIB (self-injurious behaviour) – asking for the reason 4
1.1. Definition 4 – 5
1.2. “Why do they do that?” 5 – 7
2. Fashion trend or addiction? 8
2.1. What is a fashion trend and what is an addiction? 8 – 9
2.2. Reasons for self-injurious behaviour to be an addiction 9 – 10
3. Statistics of self-injurious behaviour in Britain 11 – 12
Résumé 13
List of references 14
Introduction
Self-harm, or self-injurious behaviour, SIB for short, is a worldwide, in particular upon teenagers, very often appearing behaviour, which describes the deliberate damage of the own body.
SIB is not defined as an own clinical picture, but appears as a symptom of different mental disorders 1. These are for instance “ Depressions, traumatisation, borderline personality disorder (BDP), Anxiety disorders, Eating disorders, Obsessive–compulsive disorders, drug- and alcohol dependencies and multiple personality disorders (MPD)” 2.
However, the term 'self-harm', which is commonly known as 'cutting', is often prejudged as a consequence of a lack of enlightenment.
In this research paper I will particularlyaddress myself to the explanation of the term of self harm, but also to the answer of the question why so many teenagers do so.
1. SIB (self-injurious behaviour) – asking for the reason
Many people have once before heard about self-injurious behaviour, but do often not know what it really means. The fact that there are different manifestations, is often unclear, which is why a result is that witnesses make a distinction not between affected persons, but “pigeon-hole” everyone.
Another problem is that outsiders cannot often understand the behaviour of affected persons what can be also seen as a result of lacking information on this subject.
In the following chapter I will react to the aforesaid question after the reason for such a behaviour.
1.1 Definition
Self-harm or self-injurious behaviour is not only defined as the common “cutting”. A distinction is made between different forms of self-harm where these are featured in a direct as well as in an indirect form 1. In contradistinction to the direct form, the line with the indirect form to the normal range is elusive.
The refusal of ingestion and imbibition may be considered, for example, just as hazardous behaviour in sport, as an indirect form of self-injurious behaviour, although it must not imperatively be felt as a consciously and intentional behaviour with the intention to feel pain.
It is different with the direct form of self-harm, which can have many different faces. An example for direct or self-inflicted violence is the so-called “cutting”, which denotes the cutting of the own skin through razor blades, knives, shards and much more, but also the intentional burning of the own skin, by instance through the laying on of hands on a torrid hotplate as well as biting oneself or “ramming one's head against a wall” 1.
Therefore, the direct or self-inflicted violence is indeed the better known and more frequent form of SIB, but not the only one.
1.2. “Why do they do that?”
The question of “why” arises with the subject of self-injury very often and is not only to outsiders, but also to those affected very difficult to clarify.
Self-injury is a result of grave, negative, preceded events, which is why it is as a rule no search for bare attention. One makes a distinction, on this occasion, between risk factors and triggers. Self-injury often appears with youngsters between the age of 14 and 18 years, so in the middle of puberty.
This is a very awkward and difficult phase, but as SIB is does not only occur with teenagers at this age, one can not name this as the only reason for such a behaviour 1. There are factors which raise the risk of an autoaggressive behaviour. Negative experiences of life like bullying, traumas and familiar conflicts, as well as mental issues like depressions and eating disturbances belong to these risk factors 2.
At this it once more becomes apparent that SIB does never occur alone, but as a symptom of a mental illness. Another factor which is decisively involved in the act of self harm is a trigger. “Trigger” is the technical term for a trippet and therefore denotes an event just before the act of self harm, which sparks off the subsequent reaction.
So we can say that there is indeed, in most cases, an explanation for autoaggressive behaviour.
Now, nevertheless, the question arises what is going on inside of a person who does want to hurt itself. With the act of the self-injury experts speak of a dissociation or a self-alienation. This means that the affected persons are at the moment of the self-injury like in a sort of trance and indeed perceive the events, but however, not completely.
Body and soul are split off one another during this act, what means that the affected person looks at his (or her) body as if it was the one of another person 1. What can be also inferred from this discovery is the answer to the, very often posed question, how affected persons manage to add to themselves such often deep and gaping wounds without feeling severe physical pain.
However, persons concerned reach, after the finished phase of dissociation, again to full consciousness and now realise what they have just done. Pudency, as well as the frustration about the own weakness, not to have stood firm to the pressure, and self-hate are the results of the self-harm, whereby the vicious circle starts from scratch.
2. Fashion trend or addiction?
The biggest prejudice towards people doing self-harm is the spread belief, that they only do hurt themselves because they seek for attention or consider it to be a fashion trend which popularises them. This premature judgement is a consequence of missing comprehension for the topic.
It is very hard for an outsider to understand what the self-harm does with the person.
In the following chapter I will concentrate on the reply of the aforementioned question and the attempt trying to describe the feelings inside of a person self-harming.
2.1. What is a fashion trend and what is an addiction?
A fashion trend is considered to be a ephemeral, temporary fashion. That does mean it is something being consistent with the just current liking1. So briefly speaking it is something many people do for a certain time, but not for a considerable time.
There are two different types of addiction. The first one describes the morbid dependency on a certain intoxicant, as for instance drugs or alcohol.
Another type of addiction denotes the overreaching desire for a certain conduct 2.
As there are two different types of addiction, one does now have to choose which of those does fit better to the discussed self-injurious behaviour. If you define self-injurious behaviour as an addiction, you have to describe it as a desire for a certain conduct, because self-harm does not include any kind of intoxicant.
2.2. Reasons for self-injurious behaviour to be an addiction
People harm themselves for different sorts of reasons, depending on the particular person itself. The reason for most people to start harming is based on emotions they cannot cope with anymore. Everyone does handle such problems differently, but everyone does first of all try to find his own way to cope with his situation.
As the person is seeking for the same effect every time he does harm, the acts of self-harm get bigger, what does carry a similar effect to drug taking: “more is needed to get the same ‘hit’“1.
Beside that, there are also plenty of men being of the opinion that harming is also addictive in an emotional sense. The act of harming does not solve the problems the affected person has to cope with, but it does hold back unwanted feelings, preventing them to break out.
So after a time it starts to become a daily routine the person concerned has to repeat every day to avert the bad feelings to break out.
In summary, it can be stated that there are physical as well as emotional components which can rapidly cause an addiction to self-harm.
3. Statistics of self-injurious behaviour in Britain
The foregoing statistic does display the mental illnesses in Wales (Great Britain) in the year 2013. Among these are depressions and anxiety, which can both be illnesses a person self-harming does suffer from.
The statistics clarifies that there are for one thing more females effected by mental illnesses than males, and for another thing many people in general suffering from mental illnesses.
You can certainly not say how many people do really suffer from self-harm, because plenty do not tell anyone they do. It is thought that around 13% of young people at some point between 11 and 16 do hurt themselves on purpose, but the dark figure can be much higher 1.
Résumé
Self-injurious behaviour is certainly not only to be considered as a mere attempt to gain attention, but to a greater degree as a part of a serious mental illness. It is a very comprising topic, which does include much more than the in this work registered aspects.
The therapy of SIB in an ambulant or fully inpatient treatment in a specialist hospital or with a psychologist, as well as advices for teachers, parents and other witnesses are further important points for the examination with that topic.
However, the most important insight to be hold on to is that SIB is not concerned to be a simple fashion trend, but a part of a mental illness, what can also rapidly lead to an addiction.
Quellenverzeichnis
Literatur
Franz Petermann, Sandra Winkel (2009). Selbstverletzendes Verhalten, Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Laurence Claes, Walter Vandereycken (2012). Schmerzen gegen den Schmerz, Patmos Verlag der Schwabenverlag AG
Internetquellen
1 Franz Petermann; Sandra Winkel – Selbstverletzendes Verhalten, Vorwort: „Selbstverletzendes Verhalten .tritt im Rahmen verschiedener psychischer Störungen auf.“
1 Franz Petermann; Sandra Winkel – Selbstverletzendes Verhalten, p.17: „Selbstschädigendes Verhalten kann viele Formen annehmen und in direkter sowie indirekter Form gezeigt werden.“
2 Laurence Claes; Walter Vandereycken – Schmerzen gegen den Schmerz, p.31: „Solche Faktoren können zum Beispiel .psychische Probleme wie Depressionen .oder Essstörungen und negative Lebenserfahrungen wie Mobbing, familiäre Konflikte, Traumata sein.“
1 „Was bei den Selbstverletzungen passiert“
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