Self-embedding disorder worse than thought in teens

William Atkins
Thursday, 04 December 2008 18:26

Science - Health

U.S. researchers find that mentally disturbed teenagers use dangerous types of self-injury when confronted with stress. Only recently identified, self-embedding disorder is now thought to be used in more severe ways by teens to inflict injury, along with being more common, especially in girls.


WebMD is reporting that this U.S. study of radiologists is the first of its kind to document self-embedding disorder.

Its article Severe Self-Injury a Threat to Teens states that researchers found that adolescents now use “more severe forms of self-injury” to “literally jam paper clips, staples, pencil lead, and other objects into their body.”

In addition, these objects are also being used: “... metal needles, metal staples, metal paper clips, glass, wood, plastic, graphite (pencil lead), crayon, and stone.”

Within the WebMD article, Dr. William E. Shiels II, who is the head of the Department of Radiology within the Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio) states that his research team’s report “shows it is clearly worse than self-cutting: 90% [of victims] have suicidal ideations.”

Dr. Shiels, who reported these findings on Wednesday, December 4, 2008, at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.), adds, "The stress of adolescence has reached the point that patients are looking for new ways to relieve pain and stress, with greater degrees of self-harm."

The WebMD article goes on to state that some of the common ways to self injure one’s body includes “… cutting the skin, burning or bruising the body, pulling hair, breaking bones, and swallowing toxic substances.”

Statistics on self-embedding disorder had not been made so it has not been determined how many teenagers participate in such injuries.

Girls are more apt to engage in self-embedding disorder. Please read on.