Cutting and Self-Injury

Self-injury is the act of deliberately harming oneself through a number of self-destructive behaviors such as “cutting”, the most common method. Other self-injury behaviors include deliberate scratching, burning, ripping or pulling skin or hair, swallowing toxic substances, intentionally bruising oneself, burning oneself with lit cigarettes, and actually breaking bones. Self injury can become a repetitive, addictive behavior that requires treatment.

Self injury, even in its most severe forms, is not meant as a suicide attempt but rather is a way for the person to cope with or express emotional pain, intense anger and frustration. For the afflicted person, self injury may bring a momentary feeling of temporary relief from emotional pain but it is usually followed by guilt and the return of painful emotions. Self-injury can be a way to deal with anxiety, depression or other negativity, or relieve stress or pressure. There is a need for control and expression, for distraction, to communicate, to act out—there are a myriad of reasons people seek to mutilate themselves. Feelings of gross inadequacy, serious lack of self-esteem, emotional or sexual trauma experienced as a child can lead to such destructive behaviors.

Self injury is often kept secret so it can be difficult to detect the signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms may include scars, fresh cuts, broken bones, keeping sharp objects on hand, spending a lot of time alone, relationship troubles, wearing clothes that cover arms and legs even in warm weather and claiming to have frequent accidents.

For individuals who self-injure, seeking the origin of such self-destructive feelings is the first step to recovery. At Caron Texas, our goal is to sort out the destructive behaviors and more importantly teach patients alternatives in how to deal with those feelings. While our focus is on alcohol and drug treatment and removing the chemical dependency, identifying healthy ways of coping with mental health issues such as self-injury is an important part of the addiction treatment and ultimately the recovery process.