Self-harming teenagers

Your daughter is probably engaging in a form of self-injury called cutting, and needs additional help. Teenagers who cut generally use a sharp object such as a razor blade, knife, scissors or even paper clips or pens to make marks, cuts and scratches or carve words onto their body. Some self-injure by burning their skin with a cigarette end or lit match. Cutting may occur on wrists, arms, legs or the belly.
 

Some cut because of peer pressure, others because of the need to be perfect and the struggle to accept failures or mistakes. Some do it through feelings of anger, sadness or despair. Cutting is sometimes the result of trauma and difficult experiences such as a failed personal relationship, bullying or poor grades at school. According to Wendy Lader, co-author of Bodily Harm, cutting is a way to control emotion. For teens experiencing intense emotions, cutting may be used to lessen the intensity, whereas for teens feeling a sense of numbness, it may help them to feel something.
 

Even though you may not have heard of it, cutting is an increasingly common behaviour among teens, particularly in cities. Approximately 15 to 20 per cent of adolescents in the US and UK have reported trying cutting. Although rates are not well-documented, cutting is becoming a growing phenomenon in Hong Kong. Studies indicate a more authoritative style of parenting and teaching and poor communication or conflict resolution skills may be some of the reasons. Most of the patients I've seen who cut are girls aged 12 to 24, but boys and children as young as five to seven years old have been known to self-injure as well.