SELF-HARM TREATMENT FOR TEENAGERS
UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING YOUR TEEN WITH SELF-HARM
At Build Bright Care Group, we understand that self-harm behaviors can be deeply distressing for both teens and their families. We're here to provide you with some information to help you navigate the challenges of your teen's mental health journey.
Our team aims to empower you to support your teenager through this overwhelming time, fostering understanding, resilience, and hope. With our collective expertise and compassionate approach, we stand by your side, ready to guide you towards effective intervention and healing.
WHAT ARE SELF-HARM BEHAVIORS IN ADOLESCENTS?
Self-harm behaviors in teens are intentional, non-suicidal actions that they engage in to inflict harm or injury upon themselves. These behaviors are often used as coping mechanisms to manage overwhelming emotions, or to regain a sense of control in the midst of emotional distress.
It's important to note that self-harm behaviors are typically not suicide attempts, but rather maladaptive coping strategies to alleviate emotional pain or distress. However, self-harm can lead to serious physical injury, infections, and long-term consequences, if left untreated. Seeking professional help and support is essential for teens struggling with self-harm behaviors to address the underlying emotional issues and learn healthier coping mechanisms.
TEENS TYPICAL SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIORS:
- Cutting: Using sharp objects such as razors, knives, scissors, or glass to make cuts or incisions on the skin, typically on the arms, legs, or stomach.
- Scratching: Using fingernails or other objects to scratch the skin, causing irritation, redness, or minor wounds.
- Burning: Applying heat sources such as lighters, matches, cigarettes, or heated objects to the skin to cause burns.
- Hitting or Banging: Striking oneself against hard surfaces, hitting body parts with fists, or banging body parts against objects to cause bruising or injury.
- Hair Pulling: Pulling out one's hair, eyelashes, or eyebrows, known as trichotillomania.
- Biting: Biting oneself to cause pain or injury, often leaving marks or bruises on the skin.
- Picking or Peeling Skin: Habitually picking at scabs, pimples, or other imperfections on the skin, sometimes using fingernails or tools.
- Interfering with Wound Healing: Continuously reopening or aggravating existing wounds to prevent them from healing properly.
WHY DO TEENAGERS SELF-HARM?
Teenagers may engage in self-harm for various reasons, which can be complex and multifaceted. Many teens who self-harm may often present with various mental health diagnoses, including depressive, anxiety, or trauma disorders.
It's important to note that self-harm can occur in individuals with or without diagnosed mental health conditions, and each case is unique.
Seeking professional evaluation and treatment is essential to address underlying issues, provide appropriate support, and develop effective coping strategies for teens struggling with self-harm.
COMMON REASONS FOR TEEN SELF-HARM INCLUDE:
Self-harm may serve as a maladaptive coping mechanism for managing overwhelming emotions such as sadness, anger, or anxiety. Inflicting physical pain on oneself may provide temporary relief from emotional distress, or serve as a distraction from inner turmoil.
Adolescents may struggle to verbalize or communicate their feelings effectively, leading them to express their emotional pain through self-injury, as a way to externalize internal struggles and seek validation or understanding from others.
Self-harm can provide a sense of control in situations where teens feel powerless or overwhelmed by external stressors, conflicts, or traumatic experiences. By self-injuring, teens may feel a temporary sense of control over their bodies and emotions.
Teens who have experienced trauma, neglect, physical, emotional, or sexual abuse may turn to self-harm, as a means of coping with unresolved trauma or regaining a sense of agency in situations where they feel victimized or powerless.
Adolescents struggling with low self-esteem, body dysmorphia, or negative body image may engage in self-harm, as a way to punish themselves for perceived flaws or inadequacies or to exert control over their bodies.
In some cases, self-harm may be a cry for help, or a way to attract attention or validation from peers, caregivers, or authority figures. Teens may hope that visible signs of self-injury will prompt others to intervene or offer support.
Exposure to self-harm behaviors among peers, online communities, or media portrayals may normalize self-injury and influence susceptible adolescents to emulate these behaviors, as a means of fitting in or belonging to a social group.
Some teens may engage in self-harm as a way to release pent-up tension, frustration, or emotional numbness. The physical pain of the self-injury may serve as a form of catharsis to momentarily escape from overwhelming sensations.
OUR RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FOR TEEN SELF-HARM:
For those adolescents needing more intensive support, our residential treatment provides a structured and supportive environment where teens can focus entirely on their mental health and recovery. One of the key benefits is the access to round-the-clock care from our mental health professionals, ensuring immediate support during difficult moments.
For teens who have been hospitalized due to being a risk to themselves, our residential treatment could be the next appropriate level of care to ensure that the underlying issues and causes have been addressed before returning home. Our specialized treatment can provide adolescents with the peace of mind a parent needs, knowing that your child is receiving 24/7 monitoring and will return home with a comprehensive and personalized discharge plan.
Our residential treatment center may also be the best option when other modalities of mental health therapy or treatment have not been effective in reducing the self-harm behaviors.
Since we offer a comprehensive approach, the child will be able to develop healthy coping skills in a real-world context, and practice managing their suicidal thoughts in a safe and controlled environment.
Our setting allows for teens to connect with peers facing similar challenges, fostering a sense of community, and understanding that they are not alone in their struggles.
Take the first step to a brighter future!
