Self-Injury Trends Meg Riley, Ed.S. Celeste Bonura, MA, P.D.

Self-Injury Also called self-harm Act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting or burning yourself. Typically not meant as a suicide attempt Unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration.

Self-Injury Continued May bring a momentary sense of calm and a release of tension Usually followed by guilt and shame and the return of painful emotions Comes the possibility of more serious and even fatal self-aggressive actions Often done impulsively, can be considered an impulse-control behavior problem May be linked to a variety of mental disorders, such as depression, eating disorders and borderline personality disorder

Forms of Self-Injury Cutting Burning (with lit matches, cigarettes or hot sharp objects) Salt and Ice Challenge Cinnamon Challenge Hitting or punching Piercing skin with sharp objects Ear gauges Carving words or symbols on skin

Cutting Purposely making scratches or cuts on the body with a sharp object (razors, metal on pencil eraser, knives, pins, staples) — enough to break the skin and make it bleed Rarely are the cuts severe enough to be life threatening Usually on the arms, shoulders, hips, thighs and abdomen Look for hoodies or long sleeves or pants in warm weather

Salt and Ice Challenge Students put salt on a body part and put ice on top and apply pressure for a certain amount of time Causes a burning sensation Combination of ice and salt produces below freezing solution Solution can cause 2nd (blistering) to 3rd degree (tissue destruction) burns Students often try it as a group. Winner is whoever can hold the ice long enough Videos are easily accessible on YouTube

Cinnamon Challenge Dares someone to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in 60 seconds without water Can cause choking, throat irritation, breathing trouble and even collapsed lungs Have required children to be on a ventilator in extreme cases Can also be deadly as a result of lack of oxygen to the brain in cases of choking and aspiration of the powder Also found on YouTube- vi videos depict kids attempting the challenge, resulting in an "orange burst of dragon breath" spewing out of their mouths and sometimes hysterical laughter from friends watching the stunt

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