What to do when someone is injuring themselves
Friday, August 1, 2008
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Australian researchers have developed the first-ever guidelines for offering "mental health first-aid" to people who engage in "cutting" and other types of non-suicidal self-injury.
The guidelines recommend that people seeking to help a self-injurer should try to remain calm and positive, understand that the behavior is a coping mechanism, and focus on ways to help the person relieve their distress rather than "stopping self-injury."
The "first-aider" should also encourage the person to seek professional help, but should not call for help themselves unless the person's behavior is interfering with normal day-to-day activities like going to school or working.
Given that self-injury "is often very secretive behavior," the guideline writers note, "this may mean that first aiders, especially when they are carers, may need to be aware of some of the more subtle indications that the behavior is occurring. Future guidelines may need to include a section on these more indirect signs."
To develop guidelines to help lay people offer "first-aid" to self-injurers, Dr. Claire M. Kelly and colleagues from the University of Melbourne recruited 26 professionals (including physicians, nurses, academics studying mental health, and others), 16 people who had formerly been involved in harming themselves, and three people who cared for a person who harmed themselves.
It's estimated that about four percent of the general population is believed to injure themselves intentionally, and there is evidence that this behavior is becoming more common, Kelly and colleagues note in the journal BMC Psychiatry. People may injure themselves in order to cope with distress or tension or as a call for help.
Until now, there was virtually no guidance available for friends or family members who believe their loved one may be engaging in self-injury, the researchers say.
SOURCE: BMC Psychiatry, published online July 23, 2008.
Friday, August 1, 2008
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Australian researchers have developed the first-ever guidelines for offering "mental health first-aid" to people who engage in "cutting" and other types of non-suicidal self-injury.
The guidelines recommend that people seeking to help a self-injurer should try to remain calm and positive, understand that the behavior is a coping mechanism, and focus on ways to help the person relieve their distress rather than "stopping self-injury."
The "first-aider" should also encourage the person to seek professional help, but should not call for help themselves unless the person's behavior is interfering with normal day-to-day activities like going to school or working.
Given that self-injury "is often very secretive behavior," the guideline writers note, "this may mean that first aiders, especially when they are carers, may need to be aware of some of the more subtle indications that the behavior is occurring. Future guidelines may need to include a section on these more indirect signs."
To develop guidelines to help lay people offer "first-aid" to self-injurers, Dr. Claire M. Kelly and colleagues from the University of Melbourne recruited 26 professionals (including physicians, nurses, academics studying mental health, and others), 16 people who had formerly been involved in harming themselves, and three people who cared for a person who harmed themselves.
It's estimated that about four percent of the general population is believed to injure themselves intentionally, and there is evidence that this behavior is becoming more common, Kelly and colleagues note in the journal BMC Psychiatry. People may injure themselves in order to cope with distress or tension or as a call for help.
Until now, there was virtually no guidance available for friends or family members who believe their loved one may be engaging in self-injury, the researchers say.
SOURCE: BMC Psychiatry, published online July 23, 2008.
