New Research Explains why Adolescents Self-Injure! by Joseph Franklin

A terrific new blog post in the Scientific American Mind Matters blog offers an excellent review of recent research on the role of pain in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

UNC Chapel Hill graduate student, Joseph C. Franklin, writes:

What do you do when you’re stressed out? Talk to friends? Listen to music? Have a drink, or eat some ice cream? Or maybe practice yoga? These things are all pleasant options, and they’re obvious, effective ways to deal with stress. Chances are that you would not even think about doing something like, say, cutting your arm with a knife until you draw blood. Yet inflicting pain is exactly what millions of Americans – particularly adolescents and young adults – do to themselves when they’re stressed.

The article is continued here:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-pain-can-make-you-…