I support every word of this article, but note with unease that although a concurrent thread on guns has already attracted 11 posters no-one has responded to what is, after all, another aspect of the same scenario: societal dysfunction.

Being the eternal optimist, however, I choose to believe that the dearth of comment here is because, like me, other posters applaud the article and/or because consciousness has been raised.

I think it's because sympathy fests are boring.

As I said once before, it's a valid alternative therapy.

With the generally poor standard of mental health professionals, and the recent study showing antidepresents are no better than a placebo for most patients, where's the harm in a few cuts. In a world where people mutilate their faces with botox and put foreign objects into their body in the name of 'beauty', I think bringing emotional pain into the physical realm and watching it heal is quite healthy.

I think this 'concern' probably comes from loss of revenue by drug companies and phsychologists, and parents not wanting their kids to have any secrets from them.

We can sympathise as much as we like but unless we address the breakdown of the family unit (i.e. dad and mum) we are wasting our energies. Most of the kids role models live sick lives and unfortunately so do a lot of the Government sponsored counselors who are supposedly trying to help these kids.

The author writes 'instead of vilifying young people who self-harm we need to empower them.' Who is vilifying these kids? I have known a number of people who have self harmed and even suicided. In each case I know of no one who was vilifying these people. What are we to enpower them with? Kids are enpowered with more rights and less responsibilities than ever before.

You will find that all a lot of these kids ever wanted was a secure happy home. Unfortunately few of them get it.

On the male self harm issue, Gay males are six times more likely to self harm or suicide. The stigma put upon them by some members of the community, does not help in addressing this tragic figure.

>>Rather, self-harm is a coping mechanism.<<
bull its a sickness we spread just by talking about it

..>>It is a way of controlling, diverting or communicating overwhelming feelings.<<
so is getting drunk running some one over in your car
even rape is a cry for help
>>(The relationship between self-harm and suicide is complex; in most cases it is not intended to be fatal.)<<
hear what your saying

they hear about it
and try it

wether by mouth or in one of the satanic murder crime 'reality' on all our media [enterTAINTmeant?]type up emo
there is your problem
you create demand just by giving it a catchy name
gee if i self harm its a cry for help
yep im crying

they do it >>knowing they got the support to do it and not be called nutter [or insane ] or deemon possesed or mind programed
why?..>>the stereotypes, the prejudice - you start to understand why some young people who self-harm claim “accidental injury” in hospital emergency rooms.
And you start to understand why they might find false solace in the “safety” of secrecy, too....<<

poor me
just about anything is self harm
we legislate to protect people
suicide is a criminal offense
perscribed medicines bring on crappp like this [whats the frug fix for this ] whats that one got mention about people doing automated silly stuff [that used to be called demonic possesion[ever watched the abc kids programs lately?
thats egsactly the cccrap they been fed by the media ,and their my space fiend's

i note the active link goes to a book someone is selling for 10 bucks
guess who is the target audiance [EMO] pre programed to self harm by too much enter taint meant ,the system sets them up to fail

A well written article with which the majority of people will agree. That makes it hard to start a long thread on.

In my professional life, and also in one instance in my personal life, I come across quite a bit of the results of self harm.

It makes those of us who could not imagine inflicting such physical pain on ourselves very uneasy and uncomfortable when confronted with the injuries of self-harm.

My personal view point is that drug or alcohol addiction in young people is another expression of the same problems. Problems of personal dysfunction or being caught up in a dysfunctional situation. It is about the perception of loss of personal power.

An empowered person does not self-harm.

This, may come across as really strange, but as a parent I would prefer my child to cut themselves than find solace or forgetfulness in drugs. It is extremely difficult to break the lure of total forgetfulness of oneself that is obtained with intoxication.

One of the children I've brought up, who has had a pretty rough trot, had an episode of self-harming. It was discovered by accident as he was clever and did it in non visible areas.

Fortunately, after the discovery of this a number of issues that seemed insurmountable and to his thinking out of his control could be resolved. By himself.

That's the role of parents and others in a care giving/teaching role. To equip our children with tools and to allow them to practice these to solve life's adversities and to accept that there are necessarily going to be times when you'll feel that life is the pits.

Some young people are either left completely to their own devices to deal with sometimes dreadful situations or, at the other end of the scale, are so protected that they wouldn't be able to find their own way home and have never been allowed to 'fail' at anything: from school assignments (vetted, researched and edited by parents) to sport.

To win is all. To lose or make a mistake is failure. Welcome to Western culture.