A report published by Manchester University for the medical journal. The increase in cases is visible for both girls and boys but the highest increase is for teenage girls. Noted contributing factors included worries about appearance.

For those looking to get more insight into the prevention process here’s a short write up: If you try to understand what is going through a person’s mind who self harms then you’ll end up judging them and making them speak on a ‘why’ question will lead to embedding the emotion. But it is always first protocol to have an option conversation and stating your motive to support the individual in the best way possible. If you are still in the doubt stages then be careful not to talk down about anyone around them as they’ll see you as a person to avoid speaking to. Instead, while in a conversation with them try to show your understanding towards teenage stress and mention ‘if you find yourself struggling with your mental health we can address it together.’ Keep that conversation short ideally and then a week later prompt a response by asking if they had time to think about the topic.

Once you’re out of the discovery stage remember to not throw advice at someone struggling mentally, the role is always to empower through supporting their positive ideas. If it is a serious case then stablising techniques would need to be implemented  until they agree to take up support. The hard reality is that even after finding out there’s a prominent mental health issue many families do not take up professional support. So the following is to help you work through it to the best of your ability.

The end goal is the establish a relationship where the person can freely speak their mind with you. If you know that relationship is broken due to family or relationship issues definitely do not guilt trip a person into talking. You have to implement trust building techniques until the bond is built. Alternatives request the help of someone that has that bond.

Self-harm is a behaviour pattern linked with the pain receptors of the body. Your body can become addicted to releasing natural pain-relieving endorphins. It makes a person experience a mentally restored state after the endoring physical pain. Depending on how deep the emotional struggles or how deep the habit, the challenge is to clear both the buildup of negative emotions and the reasoning.

Each case is different but panicking and scaling the issue is never the way. Keep the approach as structured as possible otherwise the person will resist support because addressing mental health issues may not have been taught in the family from a young age.

Happy to speak further if you have questions and I hope this helps. Topics like this do not get spoken about much because people feel they’ll be identified as a sufferer if they’re seen sharing it.

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