Discovering that a friend or relative self-harms can be extremely upsetting. It can be hard to understand why a person would deliberately hurt themselves, and people often go through a range of emotions, like feeling shocked, angry, saddened, confused or guilty. Read more ›
We all have ways of dealing with overwhelming negative feelings like stress, pressure, and even numbness. If someone deliberately hurts their own body as a way of dealing with their own negative emotions, they are engaging in non-suicidal self-injury, which is sometimes called “self-harm,” “deliberate self-harm,” or simply “self-injury.” Read more ›
Hurting yourself—or thinking about hurting yourself—is a sign of emotional distress. These uncomfortable emotions may grow more intense if a person continues to use self-harm as a coping mechanism. Learning other ways to tolerate the mental pain will make you stronger in the long term. Read more ›
People deal with difficult feelings in all sorts of ways. They may talk with friends, go work out, or listen to music. But some people may feel an urge to hurt themselves when distressed. Read more ›
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at substantially increased risk of self-injury and suicide, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Researchers found that the odds of self-harm in people with autism spectrum disorder were over three times that of people without ASD. Read more ›
Everybody has those inner gremlins talking to them, bringing up the worst thoughts, second-guessing their instincts and being generally unkind.
Where exactly do those critical voices come from? And why are they so mean? It’s negative self-talk, and no one is exempt from it. Read more ›
When teenagers confide that they are transgender or uncertain about their gender identity, their parents may be unsure how to offer support.
To understand what types of family support transgender adolescents consider helpful, a Stanford research team asked 25 of them for their thoughts. The team also interviewed the teens’ parents. Read more ›
Gia Parr has always dreamed of returning to her elementary school one day to help its students and staff understand who transgender people are.
Ms. Parr, 17, is planning to visit her former school to read from her book, “A Kids Book About Being Transgender,” which was based on her own story of transitioning in middle school and embracing her identity as a transgender teen. Read more ›
In more and more communities across the United States, transgender teens are comfortable coming out. That’s good news. But it’s also meant a learning curve—sometimes a steep one—for parents who are unfamiliar with transgender issues. Read more ›
Leslie Gonzalez’s path to becoming a doctor was filled with overwhelming pressure, stress and anxiety. Classroom struggles, the challenge of juggling a part-time job and schoolwork — Gonzalez labeled herself a failure. And on top of that, she felt the pressure of being one of the only Latinas in her medical school setting. Read more ›
