The Scars Don't Make You

Have you ever felt a pain to where to want to replace that pain without another one? Many teenagers nowadays do that more often than you can imagine. Self-harm is a very serious topic and it’s NOT a joke. It leads to teenagers getting tired of the pain and ending it. One in 12 teenagers self-harm, most teens won’t admit to self-harming because they don’t want the attention. Help is very easy to find it but they are too scared to ask for it.



Lauren Clickscales (Student)

I asked some students and some teachers at Eastern Guilford some questions relating to this issue. I asked them “Why do you think people self-harm?” many of them did not know how to answer. This isn’t an easy question to answer. They all said to help with their problems because they don’t have another way to get rid of it. My other question was “Why do you think this is a serious topic?” they all said because it can lead to worst habits and could also lead to suicide. My last question was “Why do you think so many teens are doing this?” they all had around the same answer. They either said because they have life problems and they want a way out or they want help and they are too scared to ask. Mrs. Laws, a teacher at Eastern Guilford, feels that there are two type of teens who do this, the ones who want attention or the ones that have a mental health issue (example: depression) and they feel like this helps them.

Logan Adkins (Student)

Mrs. Laws (Teacher)



This issue has been increasing, especially in teenagers around the world. According to Redditchstandard.com in the UK, people have been posting selfies on Twitter or Facebook with positive messages on their arms to raise awareness on this issue. They use the hashtag #selfhelpnotselfharm and anyone can take part of this. You can nominate three friends to do this and get the word around. This is a campaign to “stamp out self-harm”. There are many ways to understand this issue better; helpguide.org has an article on this and also how to get help and treatment for this. This website also has the signs so you can know if someone is struggling with self-harm. There are a lot of ways to get the word out and get help for everyone struggling. (http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/cutting-and-self-harm.htm)

This issue is extremely important. I feel like anyone that is struggling with self-harm, just wants an escape. Life, especially a teen, can be very difficult, in this generation; no one takes other people’s feelings and emotions into consideration. I feel like everyone just wants help, and for some people self-harm is a way. This is a serious topic and this isn’t a joke, no one should hurt themselves. If you know anyone who does this or has the signs of it, you should try to talk to them and try to help them or get them help. Self-harm increasing and no one should take this lightly. If you self-harm, talk to your friends or parents, they can get you help. There are other ways to “escape” or get rid of anger or pain, art is a great way and music can help a lot. Self-harm is serious and it should get treated like every other thing.