Self-Injury is deliberately hurting yourself without the intent to commit suicide.  It is also called:  Cutting, self-abuse, self-harm and self mutilation.  Some common ways to abuse one's self is through cutting by using razor blades or broken glass, picking of healing wounds, burning or, scratching .   the reasons for cutting are many, but some are:  relief from mental pain, tension relief, experiencing feelings or the lack of them, the need to "feel" something. Many people have difficulty understanding self abuse, and think folks who cut, do it for attention, not so.  If you cut or know some one who does, perhaps the links on this page can be of help to you.  Oh, by the way - It is NOT only some goths that cut themselves,  anyone can fall victim to this. 

  If at any time you feel "triggered" by any site on here, leave!  Move onto a safer place. 

LINKS

This page was last UPDATED on 2/11

NEW Link  -   

NEW -  

VISTA DEL MAR TREATMENT PROGRAM  -  The Vista Del Mar Self-Injury Treatment Program philosophy understands that, although self-injury may temporarily alleviate unwanted or undesired thoughts and or feelings, self-injurious behavior happens in the absence of healthy relationships with people.

SAFE Alternatives® - (Self-Abuse Finally Ends) is a nationally recognized treatment approach, professional network and educational resource base, which is committed to helping you and others achieve an end to
self-injurious behavior.

The Healing House  - was developed to provide therapeutic services to self-injurers, their families and all interested parties by guiding them on a healing journey. To do this, focused individual, family and group sessions were created to address the specific clinical issues most often associated with the self-injurious client.

new ~ A Selection of Excellent Websites

SECRET SHAME: Self-injury: You are NOT the only one

Excellent Site! ~ ANGEL WORLD-SOS- "Showing our Scars"

    Welcome to the Lysamena Project on Self-Injury

Me against me living with Self Injury

A huge web site compiled by Wonder Grrrl full of self harm sites (each letter has a large list of sites behind it.)

Self-injury.net Frequently Asked Questions page

Self-Injury.net info on STOPPING self injury

Books About Self Injury (and you can read the reviews before you buy)

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Andrew Levander M.A., M.A.C.
Andrew developed one of the only self-injury treatment programs in the country specifically serving adolescents who self-injure - the Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services Self-Injury Treatment Program. Andrew is also the clinical director and founder of The Healing House, a private therapeutic treatment center for adolescents and adults who self-injure. He is an expert on self-injury, and lends his experience and his advice to the discussion.

	Information on Self-Injury from Andrew Levander:
	Self-injury is a lot more common than most people think. About 1-3% of the population of America is self-injuring, though Andrew thinks this statistic is not accurate because so many people keep this hidden. Self-injury seems to be getting more and more common, and treatment options are very limited. There are therapists throughout the country that deal with this, but very few treatment facilities. There are hospitals that run trauma units to deal with self-injury, but not many units set up to treat the behavior of self-injury. Self-injury is done alone. An act of self-injury is a manifestation of a trauma that has occurred, or a self-injurer is acting out the shame. If a self-injurer talks about their behavior, they are essentially talking about why they feel shamed. Self-injurers live in fear of the way others will react. The most difficult part is asking for help and trusting the person you ask. Trust is the most important thing for people that want help. People can rarely stop alone.
	Andrew Levander’s additional comments and advice from today’s show:
	Cutting, as well as other forms of self-injury, is NOT a failed suicide attempt; it’s a much different thing. Andrew says treating self-injury is a challenge. He says he is one of only people who is specifically dealing with self-injury, and says the behavior is very complicated. Everybody wants to know “why” these teens self-injure. Self-injurers have internalized that question themselves, and now take on everyone else’s curiosity, which doesn’t help someone who is dealing with this behavior. The success rate of recovery is viewed differently by different people. Ending self-injury isn’t necessarily the first goal in treatment. Loved ones of self-injurers must try to understand and appreciate the support and respect the power an act of self-injury has on the people who engage in it. To immediately take it away would remove a sufferer of something they are using to keep themselves alive. Self-injury behavior is the most need-gratifying and consistent relationship self-injurers have ever had, so progress is slow. Everyone’s triggers for self-injury behavior are different. Oftentimes, the trigger is a fear of being abandoned, of being left, of a relationship ending, etc. Andrew says self-injury happens in the absence of a relationship with people. Relationships are the antidote to the behavior. Andrew’s advice for Gretchen and her mom, Liz, who aren’t communicating: Liz should honor Gretchen’s request for space, but she shouldn’t stop asking her what’s going on. Liz should not withdraw her desire to connect with her daughter – she should let Gretchen know that if she does want to talk with her, she is available. This is problem that belongs to Gretchen, and she needs to tackle it in her own way. Despite efforts of parents and concerned loved ones to help self-injurers, there is a limit to which a loved one can impose their needs or broken heart on the self-injurer. The self-injurer can’t attend emotionally to the concerned loved one who feels broken hearted, because the self-injurer has their own broken heart that they are attending to. Everyone owns his or her own life. Self-injury is a problem that has nothing to do with love. Andrew says he has never met anyone who will stop because someone else loves them so much. Boys are engaging in self-injury behavior as well, but boys are not as good as girls are at reaching out for therapeutic help, or help from family. Typically, boys act out and girls act in. Andrew says the earlier the self-injury begins, the longer the behavior lasts in the absence of intervention. It’s easier to get a handle on it if it happens LATER in life, with intervention soon after development of behavior. Self-injury is a difficult behavior to treat – we live in a curative, “quick fix” society, but there is no quick fix for this behavior. It’s about relationships and turning over the responsibility of people’s lives back to them. There is hope!

We are all in this together! (Galatians 6:2)

"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."  Isaiah 53:4&5

Jesus was afflicted, so you won't have to be!

Image Copyright John Bell

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THE WOUND UNDERNEATH

by Ron Hutchcraft Ministries
   When you hear a helicopter going over, you probably look up; I know I
do.  But it's probably not a major emotional experience for you.  It is for
Megan's Dad.  She told me she and her Dad were outside recently when a
chopper flew over.  In her words, "My Dad suddenly hit the deck."  In other
words, he just instinctively fell to the ground.  Now, you know you could
look at that reaction and say, "Uh, is he a little strange, or what?"  No,
he isn't strange.  He's a Vietnam Veteran.  Obviously, Megan was really
surprised by her father's unusual behavior.  So she said, "What's wrong,
Dad?'  He said, "It's just part of post-Vietnam trauma.  When I hear a
chopper, it just triggers something inside.  I'm suddenly in combat
again."  Now Megan understands.
   
    Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
the Wound Underneath.
    That father's hard-to-explain behavior is because of some of the battles
in his past.  He's not the only one.  It may be some past battles that help
explain what's behind the actions and attitudes of someone you're having a
hard time dealing with.

    Jesus, of course, knew that, and He had the wonderful ability to look
beyond the deeds of a person to their needs.  It's an outlook He wants you
and me to have, too.  Now our word for today from the Word of God begins in
Luke 18:35.  "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the
roadside begging.  When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was
happening.  They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.'  He called
out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!'  Those who led the way
rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of
David, have mercy on me!'  Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought
to Him."  What follows is the miraculous healing of this blind man.  And
Luke concludes, "When all the people saw it, they also praised God."

    Now to the folks in Jericho that day, this blind man was a noisy, stubborn
nuisance.  They want to make a good impression on Jesus, and here's this
man screaming obnoxiously.  The people see nuisance - Jesus sees need.  He
knows that behind those screams is a man with a desperate need.  And the
man everybody else is trying to shut up, Jesus stops for, responds to,
reached out to.

    When you try see the need behind someone's deed, it change the way you
treat that person.  Like Megan.  She could understand and even sympathize
with her Dad's dramatic reaction to the chopper overhead when she knew the
pain in his past that made him react that way.

    There's probably someone in your world who needs that kind of
understanding from you right now.  It may be someone who has hurt you
deeply, mistreated you, used you, even attacked you.  You may be
increasingly annoyed or irritated or angry with someone whose attitude or
actions or approach really rub you the wrong way.  But there's a good
chance there's pain underneath the way they are. Past battles that have
almost programmed them to respond in a way that they think will protect
them from more pain.

    Sometimes when people are bleeding emotionally, they bleed on us.   If that
person was injured in front of your house and physically bleeding, you'd
respond with compassion and you'd do all you could to stop the bleeding.  I
don't think you'd get angry with them for getting blood on you.  Now it may
be that they're bleeding emotionally from past wounds - and they don't need
one more person who wounds them even though their behavior seems to invite
a pretty harsh response.

    When you try understand the needs behind their deeds, you can finally
respond as Jesus told us to: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke
6:27-28)  That person you struggle with doesn't need any more wounds - they
need someone who will, in Jesus' love, help heal those wounds.

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