Bipolar Disorder Self Injury: Why You Must Be Concerned

In bipolar disorder, there is often concern about bipolar disorder self injury. It is usually serious, and comes in different forms.

A form of bipolar disorder self injury that’s coming most lately into the general public consciousness is self mutilation, or “cutting”. This practice is found in folk with other diagnoses, too. In reality, only a fraction of those who self injure are bipolar.

Cutting, burning or other self hurting behaviors are often seen in adolescent girls and others, even in men. A lot of this is a part of bipolar disorder self injury.

These acts aren’t suicide attempts, whether or not the people who do them are depressed or suicidal. They’re often desperate acts of anger, worthlessness, and loss of control. This is often a case of bipolar disorder self injury, and it’s not surprising when the symptoms are similar.

Suicide, naturally, is the most extreme form of bipolar disorder self injury. There will be plans and attempts before an individual commits suicide. In any case, all threats of bipolar disorder self injury should be regarded seriously.

Suicidal thoughts may cloud the thinking about a depressed person to the limit that he or she will be able to think about nothing else. It may appear the world would be better off without them, or that they can prove to others that they should have been treated better. At this time there is concern of bipolar disorder self injury, but the concepts are just at a low heat.

The danger becomes more imminent when the person starts to make plans. A person may make elaborate plans for some years. Another person may only think about a plausible way to go about it. The difficulty is that either of these folk may at any point basically commit suicide. It isn’t easy to predict the chance of bipolar disorder self injury.

Many times a person’s suicidal bents will not be spotted unless an attempt is made. A sensible person should treat all attempts seriously, though some may seem more serious than others. More significant attempts could be identified when the result was more certain compared to other attempts, or a note was found. Bipolar disorder self injury is always possible in these scenarios.

There’s always the possibility that a person is serious, in any case what type of attempt was employed. Statistics show that people who have never tried to commit suicide during the past are 40 times less sure to be successful than people who have.

Suicide may be on a person’s mind if he starts to set his affairs in order or make last agreements. It could be so simple as giving away possessions, or as complicated as making monetary arrangements. If this is suddenly seen in a bipolar individual, it should be determined whether that person is in danger of bipolar disorder self injury.

Many thoughts, plans, or attempts actually do end in suicide. 11 percent of deaths in the States are as a result of suicide. Roughly eighty percent of suicide deaths are by males, although more ladies attempt it. Every year, more and more teens are committing suicide. Bipolar disorder self injury, then, is a definite and increasing issue.

The disease’s physical, social, and affective consequences are tricky enough to handle. Self harm and suicide make attention to bipolar disorder self-mutilate most necessary.

Source: Unknown

Shelved report keeps suicide prevention reforms at bay

RUTH POLLARD INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR

August 22, 2009

A HERALD INVESTIGATION

AN EVALUATION of Australia's main suicide prevention program - which found there was little evidence the strategy had reduced rates of suicide and self harm - has been kept secret for three years, stalling much needed national reforms.

The 2006 evaluation reveals the Howard government was urged to review the National Suicide Prevention Strategy to ensure that funds were better targeted to those in greatest need. ''The current goals and objectives … are too broad to provide sufficient guidance,'' it concluded.

And while the national program floundered, suicide rates remained at historically high levels. The Herald revealed yesterday that the national suicide statistics had been undercounted, and the toll could be as high as 3000 a year, rather than the 1800 reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, without any corresponding increase in funding to prevent further deaths.

The Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, said the Government was working with the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council to develop ways to improve the data and respond to the needs of people at risk. ''I'm concerned by these reports,'' Ms Roxon said.

To make progress, access to quality mental health services must be improved and structures developed to co-ordinate a new national response, said John Mendoza, the chairman of the Federal Government's National Advisory Council on Mental Health.

''We have seen our governments … implement an assertive response to swine flu [and] now we have had 121 deaths since the outbreak and … 460 people are … in hospital from H1N1.

''In the same period we have had at least 10 times the number of suicides and … 20,000 hospital admissions for self-harm. This is the scale of the problem, and it's time we addressed it.''

Training GPs and other health care providers in recognising the warning signs for self harm and suicide, as well as reducing access to the means of suicide and investing in self-help services would go a long way to reducing risk, Professor Mendoza said.

The chairman of Suicide Prevention Australia, Michael Dudley, said: ''We have absolute evidence that putting barriers around jumping points makes a huge difference - people do not automatically go and try something else, and it is the same with reducing access to firearms, medications and other methods.

''Maintaining a social connection can make a difference - we should be following people … after they have had contact with health services, because we know they are very much at risk.''

Lifeline: 131 114

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Brisbane Times

Mental health drive to help gay people

Published Date: 31 August 2009

A NEW mental health programme for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will aim to help tackle high levels of depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide and attempted suicide.

The LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing in Edinburgh's Howe Street says prejudice and discrimination contribute to a rate of mental ill-health among the LGBT community three or four times that of the mainstream population.

Its autumn Mind Matters programme will include sessions on issues such as self-harm, support for carers, domestic abuse, safe alcohol use and parenting.

All the events are free of charge. For further information, contact the centre on 0131 523 1100, visit www.lgbthealth.org.uk or e-mail admin@lgbthealth.ord.uk

The full article contains 124 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.

Page 1 of 1

• Last Updated: 31 August 2009 9:42 AM
• Source: Edinburgh Evening News
• Location: Edinburgh

Guest Post - Dr. Kevin Keough

Understand Self Injury- Awareness Video

This is a video on self-harm I made to help those who don't understand. Please check it out and ask any questions if you have any. If there is hate comments, rude or disrespectful I will delete and block you. Below I have posted a lil more details about those who self-harm. Please take a moment to read it. http://www.recoveryourlife.com/ http://www.meetup.com/ http://www.psyke.org

====================== Song: Breathe-Sia ======================

SI is something I go through personally everyday of my life. I think about it all the time. Even tho the thoughts are there, most likely I'll be able to control myself & not hurt my body. Sometimes I slip & hurt myself but it shows how hard I work towards being heathly & safe. DBT is a good source to help the urges & to find safe ways to cope with the feeling.

Self-injury or self-harm is when somebody damages or injures their body on purpose. Self-injury is a way of expressing deep emotional feelings or problems that build up inside.

Cutting the skin is probably the most common form of self-injury. The cuts are not usually deep but in some cases, medical attention is needed to clean, dress or stitch the wounds. The most common places on the body to cut are the wrists, upper arms, inner thighs and upper chest. Less common are the face, breasts, abdomen and genitals.

Often people who cut themselves will use one or two methods, for example, knives, glass or razor blades. The person tends to have a certain area of the body that they prefer to cut, such as the arms.

Burning the skin (usually with cigarettes) is also common. People may also self-harm by scratching, hitting or punching, sometimes using an object. Other forms of self-injury include picking at the skin, pulling out hair, swallowing poisonous substances, taking an overdose of tablets or drugs or deliberately breaking bones.

Although, there is a connection between self-harm and suicide, the majority do not risk their lives. For many people who self-injure, their actions are only an attempt to cope with the stress and difficulties they face; their purpose is not to end their life.

However, there is a possibility that those who self-injure may commit suicide either deliberately or accidentally as the result of their actions.

Self-harm is much more common among girls than boys, often starting in adolescence (between 13 and 18 years of age), although it can affect children from as young as 11 years. Fear of discovery, shame and embarrassment often means that people keep self-injury a secret. Because of this, it is difficult to know how many people self-harm.Some people self-harm only once or a few times while others do it on a regular basis, sometimes throughout their life.

People who self-injure are very careful to hide the damage and scars. They will often injure themselves in places that can be easily hidden by clothing so friends and family members may be unaware of the person self-injuring in private. Another sign that someone could be self-harming is that the person will insist on keeping covered up at all times, even in hot weather.

People self-injure for a variety of reasons and sometimes, the person doesnt actually know why they are doing it. However, it is commonly thought to provide a release for pent-up emotions and feelings. For some people it is their way of coping with a specific problem. Self-injury is a sign of emotional distress and is not an attempt to seek attention.

People who self-harm often describe feelings of numbness or deadness or they may feel detached from reality, as if they are not part of the world. Some may injure themselves to stay separated from reality but others do it to make them feel more real, connected and alive.People who self-harm often describe feelings of numbness or deadness or they may feel detached from reality, as if they are not part of the world. Some may injure themselves to stay separated from reality but others do it to make them feel more real, connected and alive.

People who self-injure risk infections if their wounds are not treated properly. Cuts can become infected if a person uses non-sterile or dirty cutting instruments.

Source:Healing From Addictions

Self Harm & Suicide

• The relationship between self-harm and suicide is complex. Most commonly the motivation for self-harming behaviour is to cope with, or to gain a sense of relief from painful emotions and distressing personal experiences, not to result in death.


• Any action that is deliberately intended to cause death is best regarded as a suicide attempt.vii Any deliberate attempt on one’s life that results in death is best understood to be a suicide.


• Since most self-harm experts agree that self-harm and suicide are distinct and separate acts, some have suggested that self-harm should be established as an independent clinical syndromeviii.


• According to published research, more than half of individuals who self-harm do not have suicidal thoughts at the time of self-harm and self-harm has been described as a way to avoid suicideix. In one studyx a participant reported that her self-harming behaviours helped her to feel more ‘in control’ whereas her suicidal behaviour occurred when she felt out of control.


• This being said, acts of self-harm need to be taken seriously. Individuals who self-harm may be considered at higher risk of further, more severe self-harm and later suicidexi. Self-harm and suicide attempts can be performed by the same individual – and in some cases the intent may not be completely clear. A British studyxii observed that 16% of people who self-harm repeat their self-harm within one year and 7% suicide within nine years.


• Regardless of the specific intent in any single instance, acts of self-harm or attempted suicide reflect a degree of emotional distress by an individual that requires skilled assessment and support.
  

[taken from: Mind Frame]

Friday Readers Story

Anonymous said...

i started cutting when i was 11 at first it would be the once a month or longer at first it was only with glass then when i went secondary skool people picked on me i felt like i didn't want to live and i tried to commit suicide not by cutting at the time i didn't no it could kill u if u went deep enough i tried to kill myself by wrapping my dads ties around my neck and pulling but removing it at the last minute it felt great tho sometimes i took pills sometimes i would lay under the bath water so i couldn't breath hold pillows on my head.

Then when i was 13 my nan died and cutting seemed to make everything disappear so i did it more often then the buzz stopped so i cut hard and deeper into my arms i regret cuttin but am also addicted just like others

I'm now 17 and trying so hard to stop when i get the need to cut i sit in front of my family because i cant do anything if they are there they don't no about any of this its never gone too far i am good at hiding my secrets and have been hiding them for years now i seem to be good at it.

i haven't cut for about a week now its not long to u but it seems like a life time to me i am proud of myself because of how long iv gone without but when i look at my arms i hate myself even tho I'm stopping cutting the odd one i do now seems to be more serious to me because I'm not only cutting my arms or legs anymore I'm cutting at my wrists I'm scared i will cut deep like some of the cuts on arms and legs because i don't want to die i never have i just want some one to see my pain but they never do.

i want to stop this but its so hard iv been doing it nearly all my teenage life

from t x

Fridays Readers Story

Tranquilium (anonymous) said...

Dear Abbey,

I am currently sixteen, nearly seventeen. Up until somewhat recently, I'd been self-harming in various different ways since I was seven years old. It started out as bruising, slamming my arms in drawers, punching myself, etc. ("banging" as it's most commonly referred to. or, more specifically, "wrist-banging." That began due to loss of family members, and bulling in school. I remember thinking that "there must be something wrong with me, nobody wants to be around me." I was trying to fix myself through beating myself up. That went on for awhile.

When I was eleven, I began cutting, as my depression worsened and there were many more deaths and painful events happening in my life as well. Then, two weeks after my thirteenth birthday - my older sister died. I blamed myself for a very long time.

Later on, the same year (I was thirteen) I began burning myself. with lighters, cigarettes, whatever I could get a hold of. (salt and ice was always a favorite of mine as well)

Things just escalated from there. I attempted suicide 8 times before being hospitalized. then 9 times before I was finally sent to a long term psychiatric hospital for six months. That was May of '07 through November of '07.

The time at that hospital (Havenwyck RTC) was a HUGE turning point in my life. I've made an amazing recovery, and while I'm still dealing with severe anxiety, my depression is under control, as are my other issues that aren't entirely related to this specific topic.

If you or anybody, want any details or information on stopping self-harm, getting help, or just.. needing any advice. Anyone can email me at tranquilium@live.com
Or you can go to my website and leave me a message - I'll get back to you. :)

~ You're truely,
Tranquilium

Friday Readers Story

Anonymous said...

I am 19 years old, and I've been cutting myself since I was 15. My boyfriend at the time committed suicide, which I think I read someone else on here has been through, and it is really hard. I was there, when he did it, so I never really got over it. I tried to kill myself twice before my next birthday. I have his name cut into my arm. I met and got into a relationship with another guy, that ended up being an abusive relationship.

That went on for..almost two years. I came out of that with a daughter (born at 25 wks), and several more scars.I recently attempted suicide again and was diagnosed as bipolar, as well as suffering from PTSD, which I now have medication for. I think the reason I do it, (I still do it) is because when I do it, and I bleed, it just..I don't know..gives me a physical reason for the pain, which kind of helps..

But, I am trying, /trying/ to work past it, so I can be there for my kids, and my soon to be husband.I don't know why I felt like I needed to go into that here, but I did..so..I dunno, maybe it'll help someone.
January 19, 2008

Friday Readers Story

Daisy said...
Hey,I'm 16 years old and I cut myself - mainly because its the only way I can feel pain. Sounds weird, I know, but because I have so much mental pain in my head I can't feel it, I feel that the only way I can feel it is by having physical pain inflicted on me.I stopped cutting for over 6 months, and then about a month ago, things at school got so bad that I couldn't stop myself from cutting myself. I feel so weak and dumb now. Does the fact that I gave into temptation make me a weak, stupid person??? I think it does. I've tried to kill myself once, and all I can thing about is myself hanging from a tree. I get images and they scare me.

Daisy xxx
December 5, 2007

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