Nonsuicidal Self Cutting

Adolescence is a difficult time of growth and adjustment. It is the period between childhood and adulthood and is marked by a number of changes for a child, such as puberty and an expansion of cognitive ability. Socially, adolescents are beginning to deal with growing responsibility, the initiation of romantic desires, and the pressure of deciding on what they want out of their lives. These years can be full of learning and enjoyment, but for many teens, life is depressing, complicated, and difficult with which to cope. Unfortunately, many young teens turn to unhealthy ways of coping with stress and personal crises, such as drugs and alcohol. One specific destructive form of coping is self-harm (specifically nonsuicidal self-injury). Nonsuicidal

One particular form of self-harm, self-cutting (referred to from now on as cutting for the purposes of this paper), is an attempt to temporarily relieve stress through the cutting of the skin. While causes for cutting vary from student to student (which will be examined more deeply further in the paper), some adolescents have reported their desire to cut was initiated “to stop bad feelings,” “to feel something, even if it is pain,” “to avoid something unpleasant that [they] do not want to do,” and even “to get

However, cutting is rather an attempt by teens to cope with various debilitating emotions or, as stated earlier, to feel something when all that is felt is numbness or nothingness. For many adolescents, cutting seems to be the solution to the negative emotions that constantly drag them down, if only temporary.
Contrary to popular belief, adolescents do not start cutting merely for attention. In reality, many adolescents cut themselves for extensive periods of time without parents, teachers, or friends ever knowing, and they do not seek attention, but in actuality seek to hide their cutting for as long as possible. On the other hand, when their cutting is found out by friends or family, the adolescents may change the reasoning or use their cutting to accomplish a different