Teen Cutting

What causes teens to cut?

There are many teens in the world today that use self mutilation in order to feel better. One of the popular forms of self mutilation is cutting. Usually a teen will use a sharp razor blade or kitchen knife to inflict each cut. Research has shown that cutting is more common among teen girls. One of the main reasons a teen will cut is to deal with depression. If an emotional pain is too much for someone to handle they will cut themselves in order to forget the emotional stress they are experiencing. The physical pain from cutting will out weigh the emotional pain that some is feeling. Teen cutting is becoming a big problem in America these days. One of the factors that teens cut is caused by the popular teen lifestyle called "emo". The teen wants to fit in and tries to impress his friends. Teen cutting is a negative way to get rid of stress. If you are a teen that cuts, talk to you parents and ask them for help. There are plenty of people that have been through what you are dealing with. If you are a parent and notice scars on your teen, ask if there is anything you can do to help.

Teen Self Mutilation

Sometimes when a teen feels sad or depressed they may feel the urge to hurt themselves. This is commonly known as self mutilation. Teens express that when they cut themselves they feel better. This is not normal in fact it is a sign that the teen is depressed and borderline suicidal. If you are a teen that is cutting yourself, please talk to an adult. In some cases a child who has been abused or neglected may turn to self mutilation or cutting. This is not always the case but it is important to determine why a person would feel the need to hurt themselves. If you have been abused or are being abused talk to an adult you can trust.

There is professional help if you or someone you know is hurting themselves. Usually through therapy and counseling resolution can come to the person suffering from this illness. There are also many great medications to help the person trying to overcome this problem. Some teens join in on the cutting to be accepted by the crowd. This is usually not as serious, but all self mutilation, suicide talk, and especially attempts, should be taken seriously. If you have a friend that is hurting themselves or talking about suicide, get help immediately. Don’t wait, hoping things will get better. It would be terrible to live thinking you could have saved another persons life, and didn’t.

Signs of Depression That Could Lead To Teen Cutting

Besides self mutilation there are many other ways to see if a person is depressed, here is a checklist.

* Hopeless, feeling worthless like there is no purpose to life

* Things that used to be fun are not anymore

* Constant thinking and talking about death

* Very wide mood swings, very happy then very sad

* Attempts to gather extra medications or weapons

* Change in sleep, eating habits, appearance or behaviors

* Sudden calmness, like person has decided to end it all

* Intense rage or uncontrollable anger

* Risky self destructive behavior

* Giving prize possessions away, writing a will

Always error on the side of getting someone or yourself help too soon, waiting for depression and suicide to get better is very risky. The depressive suicidal signs above are not conclusive; if you feel like something is wrong with a friend, seek help immediately, you may just feel like things are not right. Trust your feelings.

Suicide Prevention

If you believe that someone you love is about to try kill themselves, here are some ways you can help.

* Call for help immediately, call 911

* Talk with the person, remain calm

* Don’t leave the persons side

* Sincerely listen to the person

* Try to keep them talking to you

* Find out how they are thinking or killing themselves (see if they have a plan?)

It is important that a person act quickly when they think someone is really ready to end it all. Stay calm and try to keep the person talking with you, try to remove their mind from the suicidal fixation. Above all else, call for professional help immediately.