Cutting voices. Self-injury in three adolescent girls.
1. Adolescent girls with a trauma history discover that violence, in the form of cutting themselves, heeds a response from others when others do not listen to their speaking voices. 2. Cutting may begin as an effort to communicate psychological distress and a plea for relationship but becomes a developmental pathway to cutting as a form of regulating unbearable affect, indicating the need for early intervention. 3. Adults actively and genuinely listening to girls is a critical component for both prevention and intervention of cutting.
Machoian
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Department of Human Development and Psychology, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology