Incision refers to the conscious harm to one’s own body that is not intended to commit suicide. The incision is used to relieve intolerable feelings or numbness. Slicing is rarely a suicide attempt, but it increases the risk of suicide as much as a previous suicide attempt. The risk of suicide is highest in those young people who, in addition to incision, have a high use of drugs and lack the support of friends.
A young person who repeatedly harms himself or herself should always be referred to professional help in order to find out what he or she is aiming for when cutting himself or herself. The goal of the treatment is to help the young person both reduce the incision and treat the root causes of the incision.
THE REASONS BEHIND THE SLICING
Some people say slicing is the only problem in their lives. They are very successful on the outside and experience no problem in their lives other than slicing. In addition to them, there are a large number of slicers who have difficulty in regulating emotions. These difficulties can be seen, for example, as problems in human relationships.
Those who intentionally harm themselves may have multiple periods of psychiatric treatment and may have been diagnosed with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses, such as personality disorder, depression, anxiety, substance abuse problem, eating disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLENCE, BULLYING, OR NEGLECT
Young people who have experienced physical or sexual abuse are more likely to behave self-destructively than their peers. Self-harming behavior can be the result of the violence that a person has experienced or witnessed. Seeing the mother’s assault is as traumatic for the child as the assault on the child.
More common than abuse, however, is that childhood neglect has exposed the slit. This means that the child has had to grow up without adequate adult presence and protection. As a result, she has not learned the adequate emotional control skills that a caregiver usually teaches a young child when she experiences awkward emotions.
Prolonged school bullying can also be traumatic for a growing child and adolescent. A young person builds their own identity with the help of their peers. If he is left alone and falls outside the group, he will at the same time be deprived of one of the key building materials for me. At that time, the development of adolescence may slow down or stop. The young man turns inward and turns his anger and frustration at himself. As a result, the young person becomes depressed and behaves suicidal.
A combination in which a child is closed in nature and grows up in a family where negative emotions are not talked about and emotions that are perceived as awkward is “swept under the rug” can also be prone to suicidal behavior. At that time, the child does not learn to recognize, accept, and express his or her feelings. He becomes estranged from his feelings and begins to fear and be ashamed of them. He learns to hide them and keep them inside.
In addition, there are slicing young people who come “just from ordinary homes” without a difficult life history or major losses.
SOCIAL ISOLATION
Social isolation or isolation causes neurobiological changes in the brain. Changes are reflected in the level of behavior so that self-harming behavior and thoughts of death increase. Aggressive behavior increases in individuals isolated from the rest of the herd. Similarly, suicidal behavior and suicidal ideation increase as a person withdraws from social contact.
People with depression and self-destructive behavior tend to isolate themselves from social contacts. The reasons for this are accentuated feelings of shame and the inability to get things done at all. Activation of behavior as well as increasing social contacts and improving their quality are key themes in the treatment of depression and incision.
WHY DOES INCISION HELP?
Cutting, binge eating, and intoxicants can be used as a means of coping with internal pain, distress, and an intolerable state of being. They can help ease tension and get rid of torturous feelings and thoughts.
Pain releases endorphins in the body. Endorphins are hormones and neurotransmitters produced by the body that reduce feelings of pain and increase feelings of well-being. Cutting also helps to clear the mind of intolerable thoughts, at least momentarily. In addition, treatment of post-incision wounds may be the individual’s only way to receive care and attention.
INVESTIGATION OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR
Every person who behaves self-destructively is different. The backgrounds and life stories of the slashers are unique. In the same way, the environment is different for everyone, including children raised within the same family. Likewise, the patterns of behavior that people learn are individual and unique.
COGNITIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY
Central to the cognitive approach is helping the individual identify the impact of situations and events leading to incision on their own thoughts and feelings and their connection to incision impulses.
Treatment seeks more effective ways to manage anxiety and learns to identify your feelings more accurately, to be more open and accepting of your feelings and thoughts, to express your needs and to be strong in your relationships, and to build a more balanced relationship with your body.