Posted on 06/05/2006 6:36:57 PM PDT by voletti
CHICAGO, JUNE 5 : Nearly 1 in 5 students at two elite U.S. universities say they have purposely injured themselves by cutting, burning or other methods, a disturbing phenomenon that psychologists say they are hearing about more often.
For some young people, self-abuse is an extreme coping mechanism that seems to help relieve stress; for others it is a way to make deep emotional wounds more visible.
The results of the survey at Cornell and Princeton are similar to other estimates on this frightening behavior. Counselors say it is happening at colleges, high schools and middle schools across the United States.
Separate research found more than 400 Web sites devoted to the subject, including many that glorify self-injury. Some worry that many sites serve as an online subculture that fuels the behavior - although whether there has been an increase in the practice or just more awareness is unclear.
Sarah Rodey, 20, a University of Illinois student who started cutting herself at age 16, said some online sites help socially isolated kids feel like they belong. One of her favorites includes graphic photographs that the site warns might be "triggering."
"I saw myself in some of those pictures, in the poems. And because I saw myself there, I wanted to connect to it better" by self-injuring, Rodey said.
The Web sites, recent books and media coverage are pulling back the curtain on the secretive practice and helping researchers better understand why some as young as grade-schoolers do it.
(Excerpt) Read more at samachar.com ...
That's really not the self-abuse I had in mind. That's messed up.
Dunno why but I get the creepy feeling that rampant, soulless, pointless, hopeless liberalism at these 'elite' univs has something to do with this self-abuse thingie....
They might have reconsidered the wording.
Hey, they can go blin.. oh, wait.. nevermind.
They just think they're Klingons.
Would you believe I have a niece in college, who is strongly right wing, raised by a conservative family, who have just found out she's been cutting herself. Its true.
Whatever happened to Van Halen and AC/DC?
1 on 5. Right. Just as 1/3 of all returning veterans are "suffering from PTSD." What a pile of crap.
That kind of self-abuse is an old obsession, actually quite timeless.
I would associate it with the stress level, pure and simple. In earlier, simpler times the stress level was generally lower, and/or the people had better coping skills. Given enough stress, everyone would snap.
Why don't they just stand naked with hoods over their heads, or strip down to their underwear and form human pyramids? Or what about waterboarding each other? That's REAL abuse!!!
I volunteer at a Christian rock non profit venue. When I heard statistics not too far from this I was shocked. I think a good deal of this can be laid at the feet of a society which lives by instant gratification, a decline in moral absolutes, and all the stuff that goes with the liberals social agenda.These young folks are in a great deal of pain, emotionally, and spiritually and I don't see it getting better in the near future.
"MySlice.com"?
A big shot at a university just warned faculty that the most complaints from students (on the subject of jokes) came from those offended about homosexual jokes. Perhaps some jokes are over the line, but anti-patriotism is fine at most schools, even commendable.
Here is a scenario. One faculty member is out as a homosexual activist. Another jokes about homosexuality. Which one will be thrown out? No wonder kids cut themselves.
One: Social identity: tatoos and piercings, orange hair and proud sexual perversity (and, getting there, branding) are passe. Cutting is the next step, to push the envelope.
Two: Sympathy junkies. A rational result of the victim industry. Normal? Nobody give a s**t. Screwed up: "we care more". The attention is toxic.
Must be all that phony "self esteem" come to a boiling point.
There is nothing new under the sun.
27And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
28And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
29And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
30And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
It looks like a situation of self hatred.
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