26th April 2006 - The Independent's feature on Self-Injury

Today, there were two articles in “The Independent” about self-injury (full-page spread). As I say repeatedly, it is always good to see awareness being raised through the media, even though it can at times be misleading.

The feature was entitled “Children self-harm aged nine, warn nurses”: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article360212.ece

The first section highlights the growing number of young people who are self-injuring, using other forms of self-harm (drinking, eating disorders etc), but also engaging in suicidal behaviour. I don’t feel that this article makes a clear distinction between these behaviours, and doesn’t indicate that self-injury is a very distinct behaviour in its own right. The article is written with the intent to shock! Self-injury in children aged 9 (or younger) is not a new phenomenon, and I feel that the article implies that it is something which has only been occurring recently.

The most important part of the article is that it highlights the lack of services available to young people with mental health problems. Obviously something needs to be done about this.

The pilot project at St George's psychiatric hospital in Stafford is mentioned (we have already talked about this on the LifeSIGNS Blog), but I don’t necessarily feel that this is relevant to a discussion of young people and self-injury - as the article says, there are no current plans to extend this to children.

“Self harm: 'Teachers know it's going on, but they're scared'” is the second part of the feature and can be found at: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article360213.ece
This focuses on an individual’s experience with self-injury and negative reactions which she has received from people (professionals in particular). As so many stories of self-injury do, this one serves to show how there is still so much misunderstanding surrounding self-injury.

As with similar articles in the press I was disappointed that there was no mention of where people should go to get help for their self-injury. I will be writing a letter to “The Independent” in response.

Spring, Summer and Scars

Spring finally seems to have arrived bringing with it some welcome warmth. However the advent of warmer weather often poses a problem for those who self harm – namely that of scars. In the winter it is easy to cover up and therefore hide scars that we don’t wish others to see but in summer this becomes more difficult, especially for those who have to wear certain clothes or uniforms for work or school, which reveal the arms for example.

One of the least invasive and most effective ways to reduce the appearance of scars permanently is through the use of silicone gel treatments (for a review of the evidence see http://www.clinicalanswers.nhs.uk/index.cfm?question=843) which help to flatten and soften the scar tissue as well as reducing discolouration. These treatments usually take the form of a silicone gel sheet which is placed over the scar for up to 12 hours a day or a topical gel cream which is applied directly to the scars you wish to treat. Silicone gel sheets are available in many pharmacies, for example Boots Scar Reduction Pads which cost £19.99 for 2 adhesive gel sheets for up to 60 days treatment. If you feel able to talk to your GP then you should be able to get treatment on prescription which will be alot cheaper or free if you don't pay for prescriptions. Brands that you may be prescribed are Cica-Care, a gel sheet which claims to be effective on scars up to 20 years old, or Dermatix which is a topical gel cream. Gel cream is preferable where scars are situated on the face or on areas where it would be difficult to keep a gel sheet in place. You can also wear make-up over the creams. If for some reason you cannot or don't want to get them from your GP then it is possible to purchase them yourself (type the brand names into a search engine and you will find online shops which stock them) but they are expensive.

For some scars are an unwanted by-product of self harm which may cause distress, embarassment and shame and therefore the treatments above are a possible solution to this. However for others scars may hold important significance which they don't want to erase. They may symbolise emotions that the holder cannot express, a physical sign of psychological pain and serve as a needed reminder of internal battles which have been won. In these situations treatment which permanently gets rid of these signs may not be appropriate. However you may still wish to keep scars secret and therefore it may be worth considering skin camouflage treatments whereby specialist make-up is used to hide scars.

The British Red Cross provide a skin camouflage service in which specially trained volunteers teach people to use cover creams, matched to the persons skin tone, which are long lasting and waterproof. To take advantage of their service you will need a referral from your GP who will then also provide you with the creams on prescription. For further information on skin-camouflage treatments, including those that can be purchased without prescription, see http://www.skin-camouflage.net .

IMPORTANT - LifeSIGNS Questionnaire

I have completed a LifeSIGNS questionnaire. This is designed for ALL LifeSIGNS users to fill in, whether they use the message board or not, and whether they self-injure or not.

The questionnaire is designed to find out more about our members and newsletter readers, their experience with self-injury (if they have experience of it), and to find out what people want from LifeSIGNS!

Responses from the questionnaires will help us to see how we can improve what LifeSIGNS can do for you or your organisation, so we hope that as many of you fill it in as possible.

Please e-mail me: mary@lifesigns.org.uk
Please write "Questionnaire" in the subject line. There is no need to write a message.

I will send you the questionnaire, you can complete it, save it as "Questionnaire complete" and send it back to me.
The closing date will probably be the end of June, but I haven't decided yet!

The more who fill it in the better! This will improve our services and what LifeSIGNS can offer to you!

I really appreciate your help with this!

Mary

This is bad - A Daily Express article by Leo McKinsty


http://bigdaddymerk.co.uk/mailwatch/forum/viewtopic.php?p=422&sid=20ba0bd80d0b3384921aac43f0b4f541

A kinda difficult article to read. Basically insulting, all about self-harm being self-indulgent, fashionable, cry for attention and so on. Don't read it if you are not prepared to be filled with rage.

I would write something to the editor of the Express, or to the guy who wrote it, only I cannot waste my words and energy on him.

What is dangerous about this though is that people who know about self-harm, who have come a long way in understanding it, can then read this and think well, there's probably some people who use self-harm like that, completely forgetting all the work we have done to move away from those stereotypes.

Treating Self-Injury: A Practical Guide - Barent W. Walsh

I have just finished reading "Treating Self-Injury: A Practical Guide" written by Barent W. Walsh, and published in 2006. Drawing from his own vast experience of working with people who self-injure and extensive research into literature about self-injury, Walsh provides a comprehensive resource aimed at professionals who come into contact with people who self-injure.

I cannot praise this book highly enough. Walsh includes general information about self-injury as well as much needed (and previously neglected in literature) practical information and suggestions for professionals. I had not yet come across such a useful tool contained within one book.

This is essential reading for EVERY mental health professional and therapist, but will also be of use to GPs, those working in educational settings, people with an interest in self-injury, and even those who injure themselves if they are academically minded.

I was impressed to see in the Appendix that Walsh has written a very positive review of the LifeSIGNS website (further highlighted by his criticicism of other sites which often provide people who self-injure with triggering material), so was very pleased about that!