Page 481 - Štemberger Tina, Čotar Konrad Sonja, Rutar Sonja, Žakelj Amalija. Ur. 2022. Oblikovanje inovativnih učnih okolij. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem
P. 481
The Approaches in Working with Self-Harmed Students
The young people are often not able to explain why they hurt themselves,
especially when self-harm presents a means of communication or the com-
munication of that, which cannot be easily given in words or even thoughts
(individuals described this as an internal scream). Self-harm is the method of
expressing a very deep distress. After such activity, individuals fell more capa-
ble to cope with life for some time. Self-harm can be one of the ways how an
adolescent copes with painful emotions that threaten to flood him, such as:
rage, sadness, emotional emptiness, grief, hatred of oneself, fear, loneliness,
guilt (Nixon and Anderson 2011).
Cutting is not a suicide attempt. But it is true that some individuals who
cut themselves are suicidal. The cutting itself is a coping mechanism. It also
needs to be known that cutting is addictive behaviour. The addiction devel-
ops due to the addiction to endorphins. Endorphins block pain and they also
ensure that the individual feels relief and comfort. Their impact on the person
is similar to for ex. morphine. When endorphins reach the opioid receptors
in the limbic system, especially in the brain area called hypothalamus, the
adolescent feels relief, comfort and a feeling of satisfaction. The feeling of
peace and positive attitude takes them over. The thing goes like this. When
the body feels pain, endorphins are released to ‘justify,’ ease the pain. In this
way cutting eases negative emotions. It is a coping mechanism, which pro-
vides a temporary release of the intense feeling of anxiety, guilt, depression,
stress, emotional numbness, excessive load, low self-worth, pressure of per-
fectionism. We can become addicted to the chemicals that our body pro-
duces. It is similar to becoming addicted to street drugs. And when we begin
to link cutting with the feeling of relief, a nervous link is created in the brain,
which forces us to release negative emotions through cutting whenever we
feel them (Plener et al. 2010).
A very important but currently still poorly investigated is the NSSI hypothe-
sis (non-suicidal self-injury behaviour) as addictive behaviour. The addictive
behaviour is the behaviour that stimulates the endogenous reward system
strong enough to cause the constant desire to repeat harmful conduct de-
spite negative consequences (in the case of NSSI this is pain, body deforma-
tion, aversion of the surroundings). Craving is basically a strong psycholog-
ical need to feel again the effect of a psychoactive substance, to which an
individual has developed an addiction syndrome. Strong craving occurs dur-
ing the withdrawal symptomatology or less frequently during the period of
abstinence (especially when exposed to specific triggers) (Bunderla and Gre-
gorič Kumperščak 2015, 719).
Each year on 1 March, we have an international SIAD day (Self-Injury Aware-
481
The young people are often not able to explain why they hurt themselves,
especially when self-harm presents a means of communication or the com-
munication of that, which cannot be easily given in words or even thoughts
(individuals described this as an internal scream). Self-harm is the method of
expressing a very deep distress. After such activity, individuals fell more capa-
ble to cope with life for some time. Self-harm can be one of the ways how an
adolescent copes with painful emotions that threaten to flood him, such as:
rage, sadness, emotional emptiness, grief, hatred of oneself, fear, loneliness,
guilt (Nixon and Anderson 2011).
Cutting is not a suicide attempt. But it is true that some individuals who
cut themselves are suicidal. The cutting itself is a coping mechanism. It also
needs to be known that cutting is addictive behaviour. The addiction devel-
ops due to the addiction to endorphins. Endorphins block pain and they also
ensure that the individual feels relief and comfort. Their impact on the person
is similar to for ex. morphine. When endorphins reach the opioid receptors
in the limbic system, especially in the brain area called hypothalamus, the
adolescent feels relief, comfort and a feeling of satisfaction. The feeling of
peace and positive attitude takes them over. The thing goes like this. When
the body feels pain, endorphins are released to ‘justify,’ ease the pain. In this
way cutting eases negative emotions. It is a coping mechanism, which pro-
vides a temporary release of the intense feeling of anxiety, guilt, depression,
stress, emotional numbness, excessive load, low self-worth, pressure of per-
fectionism. We can become addicted to the chemicals that our body pro-
duces. It is similar to becoming addicted to street drugs. And when we begin
to link cutting with the feeling of relief, a nervous link is created in the brain,
which forces us to release negative emotions through cutting whenever we
feel them (Plener et al. 2010).
A very important but currently still poorly investigated is the NSSI hypothe-
sis (non-suicidal self-injury behaviour) as addictive behaviour. The addictive
behaviour is the behaviour that stimulates the endogenous reward system
strong enough to cause the constant desire to repeat harmful conduct de-
spite negative consequences (in the case of NSSI this is pain, body deforma-
tion, aversion of the surroundings). Craving is basically a strong psycholog-
ical need to feel again the effect of a psychoactive substance, to which an
individual has developed an addiction syndrome. Strong craving occurs dur-
ing the withdrawal symptomatology or less frequently during the period of
abstinence (especially when exposed to specific triggers) (Bunderla and Gre-
gorič Kumperščak 2015, 719).
Each year on 1 March, we have an international SIAD day (Self-Injury Aware-
481
