Discuss some causes that may explain why youth engage in self-injurious behaviors
The World Health Organization (2021) defines youth as 15 years of age to 24 years of age. Youth falls within middle adolescence (14-17) and late adolescents (18-21/beyond). During these critical phases, many phycological components are occurring from physical changes, sexuality, independence, and impulse control (Healthy Children, 2021).Discuss some causes that may explain why youth engage in self-injurious behaviors However, proper development does not happen in a specific situation. Trauma can cause a person emotional pain, intense anger, and frustration. The inability to cope leads to self-harming behavior, typically not as a suicide attempt but as a form of releasing stress (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Choose one of the self-injurious behaviors that interest you. Discuss what the research says about the etiology or the causative factors for these behaviors. Self-injury can occur in many forms. Non-suicidal self-injury or NSSI (cutting) occurs in 70-90 percent of cases. Cutting usually starts at the adolescent phase of development and continues in adulthood. Furthermore, cutting often follows a cycle of impulsivity that increases the patient’s anxiety level that is attempting to cope. The anxiety converts into shame, and shame causes more tension to build, ending with the patient self-harming (Good Therapy, 2019). What evidence-based treatment modalities have been recognized as helpful in managing these behaviors? Discuss some causes that may explain why youth engage in self-injurious behaviors Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)is psychotherapy aimed at helping people with extreme and chronic emotion dysregulation. DBT can help regulate strong, quick-to-start, and slow-to-end behaviors that lead to cutting (Sheppard Pratt, 2020). From a pharmacological perspective, anti-anxiety medications such as an SSRI followed by benzodiazepines can be prescribed depending on the origin of the anxiety and severity of the anxiety (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016).Discuss some causes that may explain why youth engage in self-injurious behaviors