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Topic: Self-Mutilation Behavior in Youth and Adults

Place: Affinia Hotel, Manhattan, NY

Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006

Time: 7:30am – 3:30pm

Presented by: Joseph Shannon, PhD

Having the opportunity to attend the cutting seminar was a blessing. I learned some new insights into why adolescents and the general population would want to harm themselves. Aside from learning about the power and influence of peer validation or getting the attention that the person wants to have from friends or family, I realized that self-mutilating behavior involves a desire for the person to want to lessen their pain. Many of the times, this self-injurious behavior is used as a tool to distract the person from the emotional pain that he/she feels deep in their heart. Teaching clients tools to manage the distraction from their pain (e.g., deep breathing, music, reading, physical exercise) is an important part of treatment, but the heart of the matter lies within the individual to deal with the pain, to embrace and manage the etiology of this pain.

When all is said and done, isn’t this self injurious behavior parallel to just one of many coping mechanisms we as humans all painfully experience in our everyday lives? Sometimes we lament of the painful consequences of our behaviors, but many times we are innocent of the cataclysmic catastrophes that happen every other day. None who have walked this earth, from the new born to the elderly, were/are/will be exempt from experiencing the pain and creatureliness of our existence. Thankfully, the saving grace of Jesus has taken away the sting of death. The death of Jesus on the cross offers every person the hope needed to see beyond the excruciating hurts of this life, and the love of God can certainly reach and touch the hearts of those in pain and fill the void of the hurting. Because God has compassion on us and met us where we are in our struggles, surely we as counselors can have compassion on those who are hurting that seek out our help in their time of need.

Tom Hui
PCCF Staff Counselor