www.esryle.comLOCAL NEWS ACROSS THE NATION
Posted on 07/07/2004 3:49:26 AM PDT by esryle
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- It's a disturbing new trend in teens. One in four young girls do something to their bodies called self-mutilation.
In 19-year-old Esther Maassen's case, a razor blade, basically anything sharp is what she would use on her feet.
"Anything sharp so I could see myself bleed," she says.
Why she does it may surprise you.
"A lot of people don't get it. They drink when they get upset or something. We cut."
It's not a suicide attempt but an addiction. Those who do it say it helps to relieve stress.
"It wasn't the children you would suspect," says mom and Jacksonville school teacher, Kathi Wedner. She has seen first hand kids who cut. Wedner saw her own students doing it, but she says she never suspected her own daughter.
"She cut a design into her wrist. It was sadness. It was guilt. It was shock. I wanted very desperately to help her."
Girls are more likely than boys to self-mutilate. Middle to high school aged girls are the most at risk. Duval County school psychologist, Dr. David Chesire, says he's heard of a child as young as six-years-old cutting their body. "It's very secretive and these kids do anything they can to hide the fact they have been engaged in these behaviors and those close to them have no idea it's happening."
It's an addiction that leaves kids with scars from their arms to their chests. It's an addiction Esther Maassen is still fighting. "It's the only thing that sometimes can calm me down and it becomes really addictive and I'm still trapped into it."
Signs parents need to look for: unexplained cuts and scratches that never seem to heal; cuts and scratches paired with signs of depression or low self-esteem; kids who wear long, baggy clothing in the summer to cover up their bodies.
The American offspring of Musab al Zarqawi. Mutilation is cool. Film at 11.
I think you'll find the Bible addresses this kind of behavior. One more step as we "slouch toward Gomorrah."
Stress? Gee, maybe teen-agers 200 years ago did not mutilate themselves because they had no stress. Were there anything to be stressed out about then? No washing machines or any other machines, it was a constant battle to keep clothing and self clean to ward of vermin and parasites. No hot running water, the expectant teen-age mother knew she was very likely to lose her life giving birth to her child, even if she died, there was a very great chance her child would never reach adulthood, having died from the many fatal childhood diseases that had yet to be eradicated. No penicillin, keep a wound very clean, you get infected, you get amputated, do not have sex with anyone but who you are married to, if you contract a veneral disease there is no penicillin, you have this disease for life. If you live 200 years ago you are a teen-age farmer, have your guns and weapons with you as you perform the work that means living or starving during the coming winter, there is a brutal race war going on . Must not have been a stressful time then though, the teen-agers were not practicing self mutulation.
I too am tired of hearing how hard kids have it today. Hey kids, Shut up!
Word. Kids are more bored than stressed.
when i was a kid we didnt have playstation 2 or internet! we had Pacman and a dungeon and dragons (wow, i am such a geek)!! and we didnt cut ourselves!!
ya its mostly boredom and not stress.
Boredom? Disfunctionalism or just simple ingratitude. I'm sorry, there are some things my teen-ager would do that would enter him or her into the world of self provision sooner than necessary. Why do parents continue to provide for these ingrates, it's the worst thing they can do to them.
Actually, this is not a "new" trend (thanks, TV news, for making a story where there isn't one). Cutting has been going on for quite some time. Speaking from experience.
Well, I am pretty sure you are being sarcastic, but there is truth in what you are saying. I have a teenage son, and based on what I am seeing, here's what I think:
There is an overabundance of false self-esteem pumped into these children - They are for the most part, given everything they want, work for nothing, their parents fight all their battles for them and compensate for every failure they have. The result is that they have no sense of pride in anything they do, very little work ethic, no self-reliance and no sense of value in themselves, no sense of purpose. To look at them you may think they are quite spoiled, egotistical and arrogant. Underneath, there is a whole other thing going on.
They are stressed and insecure in part because they have been told there is no need to improve themselves and they know that it's not the truth. They are spoiled and selfish, and in a deep place inside some of them hate themselves and feel empty. The ones who cut themselves are doing it, many times, just to feel something, anything at all.
True self-esteem comes from self-reliance based on discipline, hard work, a sense of duty and character building in faith.
The teens two hundred years ago, knew what work was - their survival depended on it - they knew what the real world was, they had a sense of purpose and knew that what they were doing was valuable. There was a simple 'right and wrong' that was pretty consistent wherever they went.
I see a huge difference in children today who are not given everything and who must figure out ways to work for the things that are not 'necessities'. I'll stop here, I have to go. I hope I made some sense.
We didn't have either. We played sports or read. Stress was introduced when we were given too much idle time. When I was playing baseball, our greatest stress was finding a shortstop.
My kids spend a fraction of the time outdoors that I spent.
I knew young girls doing this, around 1990, maybe it bears some relationship to the needle thing we used to do when I was growing up. You catch the first few layers of skin, and stick the needle through so it hangs on you but no blood, blood is just an added dimension,
Teens are also under astounding pressure to succeed by the very people who fight their battles for them. Yes, they are spoiled beyond belief, but there has to be more to it than that and boredom.
Then, of course, there are the ones caught in custody battles who are old enough to understand what is going on.
My mom is teacher in high school. What is being done to some teens in the name of progress and success is criminal.
When I was a kid, my parents would have to make me come inside.
When my daughter was younger, I'd have to make her go outside.
It's partly our own fault. When we were kids, our parents rarely had a clue where we were playing. Nowadays, parents watch their kids constantly for fear of a boogeyman getting them.
Piers Anthony, science fiction / fantasy author, actually did a book with a main character (teen female) that was a "cutter"..
I don't recall the title, but I believe it was one in a series of books about an alternate fantasy world here on earth..
My neighbors next door has this huge wooden gym set that really belongs on a public playground. It's a leftover from the last owners whose children never played on it.
It has a section that looks like a fort. On the other side is a room with a plastic concave window which you reach by crawling through a large tube. There are also a climbing wall and a tubular slide.
They have two sons that never play on it, either. The boys are about 7 and 8. You very rarely see them outside. One day the mother pitched a softball to her son for about ten minutes. That was all either of them could tolerate I guess.
If my brothers and I had that gym set when we were kids, we'd be on it every day and so would a swarm of neighborhoold kids (you never see neighborhood kids anywhere either).
25% of teenage American girls cut themselves on purpose.
As silly as they often are, I'll need to see some proof that a quarter of American girls are mentally ill.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.