Self-mutilation

4 Pages 920 Words

The reason I chose this topic is because my boyfriend’s daughter, who is 15 years old, is

a self-mutilator. She has been secretly doing this for about one and half years before we

found out. How we found out is that we seen the scrapes and scars on her arm. When

asked about them, at first she denied doing such a thing to herself. While I was

straightening her room one day, I came across a letter that she had written to a classmate

stating that she had cut herself with a razor blade that she had gotten from her own razor.

When confronted, Jessica had no choice but to confess to do doing such a horrible act.

She said the reasoning why she cut herself was because it relieved the pain and anger that

she had.

I wanted to learn more about this issue to see what could be done and to try and

understand why someone with doing such horrific things to themselves. What I have

learned thus far is heart-wrenching.

This topic has been one that has remained quiet for some time. Some psychologists

would claim that self-mutilation is an attention-seeking actions while others call it an act

of self-manipulation. It is estimated that there are over two million chronic self-injurers

in America today.

Self-mutilation is a general term for a variety of forms of intentional self-harm without

the desire to die. Cutting one’s skin with razors or knives is the most common pattern of

self-mutilation. Others include biting, hitting, or bruising oneself; poking or pulling at

skin or hair, burning oneself with lighted cigarettes, or amputating parts of the body.

So just how can someone be brought to the point of cutting? The cutter may fell trapped

or lost in their emotions. Self-mutilation is commonly put into the present, and discover-

ing the reasons for the action is left hidden. Therein lies one the big keys: It cannot be

finding the “what will stop it?â€...