{"id":9744,"date":"2017-11-15T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=9744"},"modified":"2017-11-08T08:08:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T13:08:01","slug":"teens-digital-self-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html","title":{"rendered":"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9747\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"mobile-phone-1026122_1920\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>The anonymous Facebook post read, &#8220;Go ahead and kill yourself,&#8221; and\u00a0&#8220;You are nothing but a pathetic person!&#8221; Surprisingly, the posts were written by the teen who was the target. He was engaging in what is now being called, digital self-harm\u00a0and\u00a0cyberbullying himself. His posts contained a handful of messages that were threats and evidenced\u00a0hate towards himself. The posts got everyone&#8217;s attention.<\/p>\n<p>We first noticed this type of behavior when a 14-year-old English teen sent herself\u00a0digital messages of self-harm weeks before she committed suicide in 2013.\u00a0And a Texas teen did something similar by posting messages of being ugly and needing to kill herself. Sadly, her life, too, ended in suicide.<\/p>\n<p>What we are seeing is a form of self-harm or what has been called self-injury. Only now it is beginning to occur on digital platforms. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jahonline.org\/article\/S1054-139X(17)30313-0\/fulltext\">study<\/a>\u00a0among middle and high school\u00a0students found that about 6% of teens are engaging in this behavior. In the study, boys admitted to doing this more than girls. However, most often\u00a0we hear of girls engaging in self-harm. And the study found a relationship between self-harm and sexual orientation, being bullied at school or on-line, drug use or engaging in deviant behavior, having depressive thoughts and engaging in off-line self-harm. So consider those possible risk factors.<\/p>\n<p>Why would a teen\u00a0use\u00a0a digital account to publicly send harmful messages to himself? When students in the study were asked, several themes\u00a0emerged.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This was\u00a0a cry for help. Like all self-injury, it represents internal pain<\/li>\n<li>They wanted attention or did it to be funny<\/li>\n<li>They wanted a reaction from their friends or to see how their friends would respond<\/li>\n<li>Low self-esteem or self-hate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bottom line for any parent: Consider the possibility that a cyberbullying message could be sent from your own teen. Your teen could be engaging in digital self-harm. Even if this isn&#8217;t the case, the cyberbullying messages are of great concern and need to be explored. Parents, teachers and others working with teens need to be alerted to this new type of on-line behavior.<\/p>\n<p>Self injury is a predictor of suicide so it has to be taken seriously. If you know a teen engaged in off-line self-harm such as cutting, skin picking, pulling hair, burning or carving their skin, tell them you love them and get them professional help. The behavior is symptomatic of pain, coping problems or a way to punish themselves. They y need help to cope differently and deal with whatever is causing emotional pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The anonymous Facebook post read, &#8220;Go ahead and kill yourself,&#8221; and\u00a0&#8220;You are nothing but a pathetic person!&#8221; Surprisingly, the posts were written by the teen who was the target. He was engaging in what is now being called, digital self-harm\u00a0and\u00a0cyberbullying himself. His posts contained a handful of messages that were threats and evidenced\u00a0hate towards himself.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[914],"tags":[501,4113,4115,4114,1948],"class_list":["post-9744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-relationships-2","tag-cyberbullying","tag-digital-self-harm","tag-on-line-self-harm","tag-self-cyberbullying","tag-self-harm"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The anonymous Facebook post read, &#8220;Go ahead and kill yourself,&#8221; and\u00a0&#8220;You are nothing but a pathetic person!&#8221; Surprisingly, the posts were written by the teen who was the target. He was engaging in what is now being called, digital self-harm\u00a0and\u00a0cyberbullying himself. His posts contained a handful of messages that were threats and evidenced\u00a0hate towards himself.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-15T11:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-08T13:08:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm","og_description":"The anonymous Facebook post read, &#8220;Go ahead and kill yourself,&#8221; and\u00a0&#8220;You are nothing but a pathetic person!&#8221; Surprisingly, the posts were written by the teen who was the target. He was engaging in what is now being called, digital self-harm\u00a0and\u00a0cyberbullying himself. His posts contained a handful of messages that were threats and evidenced\u00a0hate towards himself.&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2017-11-15T11:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-08T13:08:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html","name":"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-15T11:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-08T13:08:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/11\/mobile-phone-1026122_1920-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/11\/teens-digital-self-harm.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teens Who Do Digital Self-Harm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9744"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9752,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9744\/revisions\/9752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}