Cutting! Fad or Addiction?

Cutting!

Fad or Addiction?

J. Otis Ledbetter

There are habits and addictions if not treated or an intervention attempt made can cause grave harm to a person, and by extension to family and friends. Who of us has not had an encounter with the results of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or even the abuse of food? And I could go further with a list of substances that burglarize the resources of our secret place and takes advantage of the human condition. One of the battles that Adam and Eve left their children with is the struggle to not allow bad circumstances convince  us to doubt everything moral, and drive us to some sort of addiction to act out the hurt that those circumstances bring!

Addiction is a powerful enemy! One of my mentors, Dr. Henry Brandt, taught me about addiction. He believed of all the definitions that psychologist and wanna be psychologist (his words) write about, the best definition is found in the Bible. Then he picked up his Bible and turned to Romans 7. Although he laid his finger on verse 15 he never looked at it again but looked me in the eye and quoted, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do."  Then verse 19, "For the good that I will to, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice."  "That, Otis," he said as he slapped his bible closed, "Is the perfect definition of addiction!"

Which brings me to what I wanted to say today!

A seemingly new phenomenon has been ravaging our teens and pre-teens the past few years, particularly the female gender. It has been properly named “cutting”! The name comes from the actions of the affected one who will take a sharp object and lacerate their flesh usually around the hands and arms. I could stop here and make all kinds of "by the seat of the pants" statements that may or may not apply... but I won't. 

I am on an exclusive list of pastors who discuss everything imaginable and some not so imaginable. There are certain individuals on the list for whom I have gained a good amount of respect. One of those men is Dr. Greg Baxter. In one of his post he included some very helpful research on the issue of cutting. So… I asked him if I could use his material to help my readers. He graciously approved my request. Here is some of the content contained in his post!  

Cutting is a symptom of something deeper and often occurs in adolescent females.

1.  Cutting can be a symptom of a variety of emotional/relational issues.

   * Cutting is a disorder: a form of depression

    * A cry for help

    * Looking for attention

    * It puts them in control

    * Relieves stress

    * They like how it looks

    * They feel like they deserve it

    * They like the pain

    * Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID - multiple personalities)

2.  There is evidence that in some young girls it releases endorphins that literally get them ‘high’.  Girls self-injure for the purpose of punishing the self. Many of these young girls are pretty and are validated based on their beauty instead of their inner qualities. This leads them to cut themselves in order to ‘feel’ something on the inside.

3.  The DSM V that will be published in 2013 has a new diagnosis that captures this behavior.  Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Disorder caused by... 

A. Negative feelings or thoughts, such as depression, anxiety, tension, anger, generalized distress, or self-criticism, occurring in the period immediately prior to the self-injurious act. 

B. A period of preoccupation with the intended behavior that is difficult to resist. 

C. The frequent urge to engage in self-injury, although it might not be acted upon.

4. The activity is engaged in with a purpose; perhaps relief from a negative feeling, interpersonal difficulty, or inducing a state of positive feelings. The patient anticipates these will occur either during or immediately following the self-injury.

There may be those who get caught up in such serious activity as cutting and view it as a fad (doing it because it seems to be popular) but the majority of youth involved in this activity do it out of some twisted compulsion that hopefully will make them feel worthy in the end! It become something from which they can not get away nor do they possess the power to stop. 

If your youth is engaging in this activity, or if you know someone who is caught in its grip, share the following articles with them. Perhaps these sites will give them the starting place from which they can begin a long journey to healing!

Question: Do you have other information concerning cutting?

Will you share it in a comment to this blog to help readers stay informed?

http://healthmad.com/mental-health/10-reasons-people-cut-themselves/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sax-sex/201003/why-are-so-many-girls-cutting-themselves

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scarred-soul/201002/non-suicidal-self-injury-new-diagnosis