Living With Self-harm Behaviours , livre ebook

Marshall Cavendish International - Say How Dr Ong

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

61 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Why do teenagers want to harm themselves and will it lead to suicide? What are the signs to look out for?

Informations

Publié par	Marshall Cavendish International
Date de parution	15 juillet 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9789814721332
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

2015 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited
Illustrations by Julie Davey
Series designer: Bernard Go
First published 2003 by Times Editions
This 2015 edition published by
Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publisher, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited, 1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65) 6213 9300, fax: (65) 6285 4871. E-mail: genrefsales@sg.marshallcavendish.com .
Website: www.marshallcavendish.com/genref
The publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaims any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Other Marshall Cavendish Offices
Marshall Cavendish Corporation. 99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown NY 10591-9001, USA Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd. 253 Asoke, 12th Flr, Sukhumvit 21 Road, Klongtoey Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Times Subang, Lot 46, Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Batu Tiga, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited.
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Ong, Say How, author.
Living with self-harm behaviours / Dr Ong Say How; illustrations by Julie Davey.
- Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2015.
pages cm
eISBN: 978 981 4721 33 2
1. Self-destructive behavior - Popular works. 2. Self-destructive behavior in children.
3. Self-destructive behavior in adolescence. 4. Children - Suicidal behavior. 5. Teenagers - Suicidal behavior. I. Davey, Julie, illustrator. II. Title. III. Living with.
RJ506.S39
616.858200835 - dc23 OCN912354895
Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
Dedicated to all my patients and children of Child Guidance Clinic and their parents
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
What Is Self-Harm?
PART 2
Why Do People Intentionally Harm Themselves?
PART 3
Common Misconceptions About People Who Self-Harm
PART 4
The Causes Of Self-Harm
PART 5
Associated Disorders Of Self-Harm Behaviours
PART 6
Self-Harm And Teen Suicide
PART 7
Warning Signs Of Self-Harm Behaviours And Suicide
PART 8
How Parents And Teachers Can Help
PART 9
Stopping The Self-Harm Behaviours
PART 10
What Kind Of Professional Support Can I Get?
PART 11
Preventing Self-Harm Behaviours
PART 12
What Is The Prognosis For Self-Harmers?
USEFUL RESOURCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
Self-harm behaviour is not uncommon in all communities and strikes people from all walks of life. It is often not spoken about because it arouses negative feelings of shame, guilt and remorse, particularly in Asian societies where it is considered taboo to talk of one s private affairs publicly. Sufferers who speak up may be ostracised and seen as weak and useless. So their plight is not known to many.
Self-harm behaviours cannot be easily wished away and should not go unnoticed. The fact that children and teenagers engage in self-harm behaviours definitely raises concerns. Why should people in the prime of their youth want to hurt themselves?
It must be recognised that young people may not necessarily have the means and resources to cope with their emotional problems. Many do not dare to turn to their parents or teachers for help. If our society does not protect and help them, then who will?
This book aims to present the facts behind self-harm behaviours for parents, teachers, counsellors and anyone who interacts with children and teenagers. This new edition also provides updates on self-harm, including recent local statistics and new community-based resources, such as REACH and CHAT, that could help young persons who experience self-harm.
I would like to thank my fellow colleagues at the Child Guidance Clinic for encouraging me to complete this book.
Dr Ong Say How
July 2015
INTRODUCTION
I came to the hospital s A E so often that one of the nurses told me I was a pain in the neck for having to keep coming in.
- Angela, 18 years old
The hospital staff thinks that treating us is a waste of time because they should be treating people who truly want to get better and don t deliberately hurt themselves.
- Chris, 17 years old
People who intentionally harm themselves are often ostracised in society as the reasons for them doing so are poorly understood, even as we continue to learn more about them and their self-destructive behaviours. Self-harm behaviours are baffling for caregivers who cannot understand why young persons would want to harm themselves and if so, why they do so repeatedly. Parents are dumbfounded and often give up after failing to obtain any answers from their children.
These young persons may also be shunned by their friends and peers, as well as by the medical personnel who attend to them when they seek treatment at hospitals.
Self-harm behaviours can afflict both teens and even young children below 12 years old, although the occurrence in the latter age group is much lower. In this book, young persons is used to refer to youths between the ages of 12 and 18 years old.
Just what is self-harm? Why do youngsters harm themselves and what can we do about it? This book attempts to explain this phenomenon, offer new insights and suggestions on what families and schools can do to reduce its occurrence. By trying to understand individuals who self-harm, we will hopefully effect a change in them and not relegate them to the fringes of society.
Self-harm describes a wide range of acts that people deliberately do to hurt or injure themselves. A more accurate term for self-harm is Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI), which is defined as the deliberate, direct and self-inflicted destruction of body tissue resulting in immediate tissue damage, for purposes not socially sanctioned and without suicidal intent by the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury. For simplicity, the terms self-harm and non-suicidal self-injury are used interchangeably in this book.
Individuals who engage in self-harm behaviours are in great emotional turmoil. Most self-harmers feel very alone as they believe they have become different from normal people and have no one to trust or share their problems with. They have conspicuous scars on their limbs which cannot be easily explained away, and which they conceal with bandages or long-sleeved shirts.
The seriousness of the problem is not measured by how bad or how extensive the injury is. People who hurt themselves a little can be feeling just as bad as those who hurt themselves a lot. Many self-harmers hurt themselves secretly for a long time before they eventually find the courage to tell someone about it or come forward for help.
1.1 WHAT ARE THE COMMON METHODS THAT PEOPLE USE TO HARM THEMSELVES?
In Singapore, most cases of self-harm are caused by inflicting superficial cuts on the wrists and forearms with penknives and other sharp objects (knives, razors, broken glass, metal rulers and pins). Some common methods are:
cutting or carving on skin,
scratching or biting skin,
burning skin,
pulling hair out,
peeling skin until it bleeds,
picking on an old wound so that it does not heal,
hitting one s body with an object or punching oneself,
hitting or banging self against walls or other hard objects,
embedding foreign objects under the skin,
overdosing with medications or drugs (self-poisoning).
Self-harm by drug overdose is a relatively common method used here. The most commonly used drugs are the ones that are readily available like Paracetamol (commonly known as Panadol) and minor tranquillisers such as sleeping pills and relaxants. Overdosing does not usually endanger life unless the dosage is so massive such that the drug causes liver failure or other complications in the central nervous system.
As one of the criteria for self-harm must be that its purpose is not socially sanctioned, tattooing and body piercing would not have technically been constituted as self-harm behaviour unless they are carried to the extreme. Likewise, other potentially harmful behaviours like smoking and alcohol intake are not typically regarded as self-harm although they could cause negative health effects. Substance abuse (e.g. glue-sniffing and illicit drug use) and eating disorders (e.g. anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) may be regarded by some to be forms of self-harm, but the purposes for these behaviours are very different, warranting separate diagnostic classification, assessment and management. These are hence not included for discussion in this book.
Whatever the nature of the act, self-harm is always a sign that something has gone seriously wrong.
1.2 HOW COMMON IS SELF-HARM AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS?
Self-harm by children and young people is not uncommon, even in Singapore. It is difficult to give a true estimate of just how many children and young people engage in self-harm acts here as such acts are often done in private. What we see at the clinics is just tip of the iceberg. Some mental health professionals say as many as one in ten teenagers could be affected. The number of cases actually seen by medical personnel is probably fewer as only the reported or severe cases are treated. In the US, it is estimated that about 1 per cent of the population self-harm. In the UK, the British government estimates that one in seventeen