The disorder of cutting is a growing problem among teenage girls

December 8, 2008

Many teenagers have resorted to cutting themselves to relieve the stress of adolescence, but experts say there’s an even more disturbing type of self-injury in place now — self-embedding.

For years, experts say as many as one in four teens — the majority of which are girls — have cut or punctured their skin to relieve the pain and anxiety of everyday life, but now a large number have started jamming paper clips, pencil lead, staples and other objects into their bodies.

WILLIAM E. SHIELS II, the chief of radiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, says self-embedding is a more urgent warning sign that a young person needs help because 90 percent of teens who have done it have confirmed suicidal thoughts.

A new study examined 19 instances of self-embedding injuries in nine adolescent girls and found they had jammed a total of 50 objects into their ankles, feet, arms and hands. Sheils says seventy percent of the girls had repeat episodes.

Doctors removed the objects safely and the girls suffered no physical damage, but their mental health was still a concern. Shiels says a common denominator among the victims of self-embedding disorder is that they also suffer from many psychological disorders.

Shiels says the teens in the small study were diagnosed with everything from depression to obsessive-compulsive disorder to bipolar disorder. Many were also diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Need Help for your child?

Here is an article on the behavior disorder:

Journal of Christian Nursing
October/December 2008
Volume 25 Number 4
Pages 186 - 193

Who to call?

Memphis Mental Health Institute
951 Court Ave
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 577-1800

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