On the Risks of Medicalization of Adolescents Self-Injuring Acts

Although common among community adolescents, self-injuring acts are mainlystudied by psychiatrists and psychologists and rarely by social work researchers.The preponderance of medical research in the field has come to associateself-injuring acts with mental issues. This view has to a large extent beenadopted among professionals as well as among laypeople. When examiningadolescents’ unsolicited internet published narratives, this medicalization ofself-injuring acts was found to have negative consequences for disclosure andhelp-seeking, and hence limit the adolescents’ possibilities to get adequate helpand support. The main objective of this work is to study adolescents’ views onhampering factors for help-seeking for self-injuring acts and the role of medicalisationfor their willingness for disclosure and help-seeking. Disclosure ofself-injuring acts within the social network was described as met with demandsto seek professional mental help. Seeking professional help was accompaniedwith fear of being perceived as crazy or diagnosed as mentally ill. Internet websiteswere described as value free and safe arenas giving opportunity to discloseself-injuring acts without fear of being stigmatized and labelled as mentally ill.An extended involvement of social work researchers and professionals, approachingself-injuring acts not primarily as a sign of mental problems, but asan adolescent way of trying to manage a complicated social context, could enhancefinding adequate support systems. It is also necessary that the medicalprofession contributes to a demedicalization of self-injuring acts