Why do so many children self-harm?

London – Chloe was just 12 when she started self-harming. “I was very quiet and an easy target for bullies. My brother was unwell, so I didn’t want to bother my parents, and I had very few friends. One day in class, I dug my nails into my arm to stop me crying, and I was surprised by how much the physical pain distracted me from the emotional pain. Before long, I was regularly scratching myself, deeper each time.”

The following year, on another particularly bad day, Chloe came home to find a knife on the kitchen side. “It felt almost instinctive to cut myself and afterwards, I felt so much better. By the time I was 15, I was using scissors or blades several times a day and never left home without something sharp.”

Chloe hid her scars, but one day a friend saw her diary. This led to Chloe’s mom, Jo, finding out.

“It was a big shock,” says Jo. “Chloe, who is now 17, has always been a very sensible, studious young lady. I didn’t even know she was unhappy. Making matters worse was the fact that I got such bad advice. I was told not to discuss anything with Chloe, just to march her into treatment. It didn’t work.”

Recently official British statistics revealed an alarming rise in children who self-harm. These figures show that in the past year, National Health Service hospitals treated more than 18,000 girls and 4,600 boys between 10 and 19 after they had deliberately harmed themselves – a rise of 11 percent. During the same period, cases involving children between 10 and 14 rose from 4,008 to 5,192 – a rise of 30 percent.

According to Sarah Brennan, chief executive of YoungMinds, “An equally striking finding, which reflects Jo’s experience, was the lack of confidence among parents and professionals about how to deal with it.”

So what’s going on? Why are so many young people – children, for goodness sake – self-harming? And where did the phenomenon, one that many people hadn’t even heard of until recently, come from anyway?

Rachel Welch, project manager at selfharm.co.uk, isn’t convinced self-harming is on the rise. It’s just we are more aware of it, says the 35-year-old. Indeed, even the Bible includes stories about self-harming and the World Health Organisation has long recognised it as a problem, not just in the West but in developing countries.

“If you think back,” Welch says, “you may well remember someone in your youth who bit their nails furiously to the point of bleeding or who pulled out their hair. I knew one woman who always wore shoes a size too small because she said each step reminded her of just how awful she thought she was. When I self-harmed as a teenager, I used bruising. Like these other people, I didn’t think of it as self-harm, though, because the label wasn’t around and there was no real understanding of it.”

In turn, this meant other people were less likely to look out for, or notice, it.

“And it certainly didn’t occur to me to contact anyone to help make sense of what I was doing. We had no phone except one static landline where everyone could hear you and I wouldn’t have known who to call anyway,” she says.

“Nowadays, people are much more likely to know about self-harm and they can contact organisations like ours, ChildLine and others privately by phone or online.”

But Sue Minto, head of ChildLine, believes the increase in cases has been dramatic. “In 2011/12, self-harm appeared for the first time in the top five main concerns for 14 year olds. This dropped further to 13 year olds in 2012/13, indicating that more young people are self-harming at a younger age,” she says.

While some headlines have blamed a society increasingly obsessed with body image (which may help account for why girls are more prone to self-harming), Minto believes a more serious problem is the 24/7 online culture.

“In my day, if someone was bullied, they could find escape at home, but that isn’t available now. Before you know it, something you said in confidence to one friend, or something unkind that someone else has said about you, is up there in neon lights for anyone to read for any amount of time.”

Then there’s the fact that families are increasingly fragmented and the inequality gap is widening. “Research shows that under-12s, in particular, are very watchful when their parents are stressed and often internalise it,” says Fiona Pienaar, head of service management at children’s mental health charity Place2Be.

No wonder so many more young people turn to self-harm to cope, she says.

“People report that the pain – and blood, if cutting is involved – can make them feel they are alive, when otherwise they feel numb or insignificant. People also talk about the overwhelming tension that can build up in their body, which hurting yourself can release. Then there’s the way that physical pain can push away emotional pain. Many people, for example, report banging their heads against a wall when dreadful thoughts seem to take over. And others talk about wanting to punish themselves.”

While it’s clearly positive that self-harm is now acknowledged as a problem, the increased publicity does have a darker side, she says. “It means it is more likely to be on the menu of options for young people. I do wonder if some who hear about it and are struggling, may then try it.”

With celebrities such as Demi Lovato, the US singer, increasingly making public that they self-harmed, it’s a concept that is much more likely to be on a young person’s radar, she explains.

Certainly much is made of copycat self-harming, a concept that took a particularly sinister turn in January when a mock campaign started by online pranksters urged Justin Bieber fans to self-harm themselves and film it in protest at controversial images of the pop star.

There are even pro-self-harm websites, which Welch says are even darker than pro-anorexia ones. “These are sites which urge competition about how far you can go or which get people posting their cuts as badges of honour.”

These are not reasons to stop discussions around self-harm, however, she says. “I think that if someone is going to watch a film with self-harm or read about it in a magazine and try it, then they probably would have a predisposition towards it anyway. In fact, I think the more we talk about it, the more likely prevention, support and treatment is likely to improve.”

As it is, she says, there are countless problems. First off, prevention, which has to involve young people feeling they have positive engagement with their families, schools and peers, clearly isn’t happening.

Second, while an adult facing mental health problems is likely to refer themselves to a doctor, youngsters almost never do until their symptoms are acute. It therefore falls to a parent or teacher, many of whom don’t notice the problem.

“A further issue is that GPs often measure the emotional distress by the severity of the scars. But a 15-year-old cutting herself down to the bone isn’t necessarily any more distressed than a 15-year-old scratching her wrist.”

Even youngsters who do get referred often have an 18-week wait. “That’s a long time for the problem to fester and they may no longer be in the right head space to talk about it.”

Then there’s the fact that youngsters need choices in treatment.

“I completely refused all counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy,” says Chloe. “I was very angry because it wasn’t my choice. Eventually, what sorted me out was the friends I made at college and a local therapeutic group. Rather than saying, ‘This is terrible, you need to stop right now’, which is what everyone else said, they said, ‘This is a coping mechanism. It’s not great, but we need to work out what’s caused it and find other ways for you to cope’. In my case, writing things down, talking to others and squeezing ice cubes can help. I self-harm a lot less now and I do feel I’m starting to move on.”

Indeed, if there is one piece of good news around self-harm, it’s that most adolescents who self-harm will stop in early adulthood, and often abruptly. “But this shouldn’t be a reason not to take it seriously. It’s a grave problem, with potentially fatal consequences, and some people continue or relapse,” insists Welch.

* Some names have been changed. For more information and support, visit selfharm.co.uk, childline.org.uk or youngminds.org.uk. – The Independent

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/kids/why-do-so-many-children-self-harm-1.1596475#.UrcsDf2ZMi4

Teenage Boys at risk from Manorexia

London – Almost one in three young men have gone to extremes, such as making themselves sick after eating, in an attempt to look good, researchers say.

New data suggests that eating disorders are a growing problem among teenage boys.

Many are turning to drugs and muscle-building supplements.

The phenomenon is so widespread that the name “manorexia” has been coined to describe it.

The study’s lead author, Alison Field of Boston Children’s Hospital, said: “We need to be thinking more broadly about eating disorders and considering males as well.”

Classical eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, in which a person refuses to eat, and bulimia nervosa, in which someone binges then purges through vomiting or laxative use.

Professor Field said: “For a lot of males, what they’re striving for is different from females. They’re probably engaged in something different from purging.”

Men make up an estimated one in every ten eating disorder sufferers. In the UK, the highest rates of new cases are among girls aged 15 to 19 and boys aged ten to 14.

Bulimia and problems such as binge eating account for 38 percent of new cases, official figures show.

Professor Field’s research on US teenagers found 31 percent of males had binged on food or purged.

Her team spent three years surveying 5 527 boys who were aged 12 to 18 at the start of the study in 1999.

They were asked how they saw their bodies and about unhealthy behaviours such as drug and alcohol use.

Overall young men were most likely to worry about being muscular, and that concern increased with age.

This could be the male equivalent of some girls’ preoccupation with extreme thinness, the study said.

About nine percent reported a high level of concern with muscularity, while two percent had also used some type of supplement, growth hormone or anabolic steroid to look better.

That figure rose to eight percent for older teens aged 16 to 22, the research in journal JAMA Pediatrics found.

Professor Field said using such products was risky: “There are a whole range of products available online that we don’t know if they’re healthy or not. We know when a lot of them are tested, they’re not what they’re marketed to be.”

Young men who used enhancement products were more likely than their peers to binge drink and use drugs.

About six percent of boys were very worried about both having muscle and being thin. Just over two percent worried only about thinness, and this group were the most likely to develop symptoms of depression later on.

Professor Field said “airbrushed” models with unrealistic bodies could have a bad effect on teens.

She said doctors and parents should be aware of attempts by young men to change their bodies, to make sure it is being done for the right reasons and in a healthy way. – Daily Mail

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/kids/the-teen-boys-who-have-manorexia-1.1609293#.UrcqWf2ZMi4

Regular Bedtimes Are Good For Teenagers

London – Teenagers who have regular bedtimes are less likely to get into trouble, a report has said.

It claimed that parental involvement in adolescents’ lives is more efficient than medical intervention in helping them get the sleep they need.

Sociology professor David J. Maume found that parental monitoring of adolescent behaviour, especially in setting a bedtime, strongly determined healthy sleep habits.

“Research shows that parents who keep tabs on their kids are less likely to see them get into trouble or use drugs and alcohol,” he said. “My findings suggest a similar dynamic with sleep. Parents who monitor their children’s behaviour are more likely to have kids who get adequate rest.

“Given that children generally get less sleep as they become teenagers, parents should be ever more vigilant at this stage.”

Adolescents with positive, social friends also had healthier sleep – longer and of higher quality. “Teens who have pro-social friends tend to behave in pro-social ways, which includes taking care of one’s health by getting proper sleep,” Professor Maume said.

He analysed the changes in school-night sleep patterns of nearly 1 000 adolescents from when they were 12 to 15 and found average sleep duration fell from more than nine hours to less than eight.

“When adolescents have trouble sleeping, doctors often recommend prescription drugs to address the problem,” said the professor from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

“My research indicates that it’s necessary to look beyond biology when seeking to understand and treat adolescents’ sleep problems. Such an approach may lead to more counselling or greater parental involvement in teens’ lives, both of which are less invasive than commonly-prescribed medical solutions and, at least in the case of parental involvement, cheaper.”

The study suggests social ties may be more responsible than the decline of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, as children become teenagers, for changing sleep patterns in adolescents.

Professor Maume, author of the study Social Ties and Adolescent Sleep Disruption, made his claims in December’s Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. – Daily Mail

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/sleep/regular-bedtimes-good-for-teens-1.1625264#.Urcp2_2ZMi4

The Riverine Rabbit Returns

Cape Town – The critically endangered riverine rabbit – one of South Africa’s 10 most endangered mammals – has taken a short hop away from the precipice of extinction, following the recent discovery of a new population in CapeNature’s Anysberg Nature Reserve near Laingsburg.

It is the first population of the species to have been found in any formal protected area anywhere in the country.

Until now it has been known only on privately owned farmland and private reserves where landowners have been working with conservation authorities and non-government groups to ensure their survival. About two-thirds of its natural habitat has already been destroyed.

The announcement of the discovery was made by “excited” conservation partners CapeNature and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and followed a search at Anysberg by reserve manager Marius Brand, colleague Corné Claassen, CapeNature’s conservation service manager and reserve staff on the night of December 5.

They captured a young riverine rabbit – proof it is successfully reproducing in this area. After taking genetic samples, the rabbit was released.

Claassen said Brand and some of his staff had previously done a day sweep of the western section of the reserve that has good habitat for the rabbits.

“Two rabbits popped out… but they weren’t 100 percent sure of their identification, so we followed that up with a night drive. We used a vehicle with two spotlights on the back, one on each side, and with six guys on each side of the vehicle and also with spotlights about five to 10m apart. The idea was to flush out anything in the area.”

The drive started at 9pm and just after 11pm the young rabbit was found, and was caught by hand.

They took a small clipping of tissue from its ear and some fur for DNA analysis before letting him go.

“He was just a few kilometres from a private farm where we’ve been aware of a population for the past two or three years. He appeared to have been following the (dry) river course from this farm, so that also opens up a whole lot of other opportunities (to find other riverine rabbits).”

Christy Bragg, manager of the Drylands Conservation Programme of the trust – the organisation has done much work on the rabbit populations known from the Nama Karoo area, said:

“We and CapeNature have been working closely together in the Western Cape to learn more about this iconic Karoo species and it’s wonderful to find these elusive rabbits in new territory.”

l Anysberg, in the Klein Karoo south-east of Laingsburg, is just over 81 000 hectares and was established in 1987 to conserve the local veld type and to eventually reintroduce game species that historically occurred in this region. – Cape Argus

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/return-of-the-riverine-rabbit-1.1625412#.UrcoW_2ZMi4

Genes seem the key to school success

London – A child’s genes have a far greater impact on exam results than the quality of their school or the efforts of their parents, researchers claim.

Analysis of 11 000 teenagers’ GCSE results suggests that DNA is twice as significant than environmental factors such as school choice in determining educational success.

The study, published by researchers at King’s College London, will go some way towards swaying the course of the great nature vs nurture debate.

It will also bolster the stock of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who recently provoked anger by suggesting that some people, “like cornflakes rising to the top of the packet”, reach powerful positions because they are naturally more intelligent than others.

The new study suggests that each child’s genes makes, on average, a 58 percent difference for their results in the core subjects of English, maths and science. Environmental factors such as school, neighbourhood and the family home are said to have an impact of just 29 percent. Other factors unique to each individual account for the remaining 13 percent, the study suggests.

Genetics appear to have a bigger influence on results for science subjects than for humanities such as media studies, art or music – 58 percent compared with 42 percent.

Study leader Nicholas Shakeshaft said: “Children differ in how easily they learn at school. Our research shows that differences in students’ educational achievement owe more to nature than nurture.”

However, he warned against assuming that educational achievements are “genetically predetermined”. Instead, recognising the predispositions of each child may help improve learning, he said. He said a personalised education that took account of children’s differences would be better than a “one size fits all” system which ignores genetics.

The paper, published in the journal PLOS One, said the findings may come as “an uncomfortable realisation” to those in education.

Many teachers and politicians fear that a genetic approach to education may lead to less intelligent children being written off.

But Professor Robert Plomin, who co-wrote the paper, said: “It means that educational systems which are sensitive to children’s individual abilities and needs, which are derived in part from their genetic predispositions, might improve educational achievement.”

The researchers compared the GCSE results of identical twins – who share 100 percent of their genes – with those of non-identical twins, who share only 50 percent of their DNA.

By subtracting the environmental impact, the scientists could disentangle nature from nurture and determine the impact of genes on the school results. Most of the genes that contribute to educational success have yet to be identified, although a 2010 study discovered small variants linked to mathematical ability.

Mr Shakeshaft said: “Once we understand more about how the genetic influences work, or once we can identify potential problems early on, we’ll be better able to target specific interventions to help those individuals who might otherwise struggle.”

However other scientists warned that the study should be treated with caution.

Dr Simon Underdown, of Oxford Brookes University, said the research cannot show that intelligence is the product of one or two simple genes. “Rather it is managed by an intricate process that relies on genetic factors and environmental influences.

“The nature-nurture debate is not over yet,” he added.

Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust, said the idea of tailoring education based on genetics should be treated with a “great degree of scepticism”.

Mr Johnson was accused of ‘elitism’ when he said some people would always find it easier to get ahead than others.

“Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 percent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about two percent have an IQ above 130,” he said.

He suggested that competition was good because it meant that those with natural ability would be pushed to work harder. – Daily Mail

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/kids/genes-the-key-to-school-success-1.1624804#.UrbAcKWZMi4

Thank You for 2013

To all the students that I taught this year:

A thankful prayer for all the thoughts and gifts

Creator of all things, I thank You from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful thing that has happened to me. It know it is the result of your goodness toward me, and I pray that I may accept it as I should. In a world filled with many sufferings and sad occasions I am fortunate to be blessed in this way. I offer You my sincere gratitude and promise to remain united with You in good times and in bad. Amen.

A prayer for next year for all students

Creator of all things, true source of Light and Wisdom, lofty source of all Being, graciously let a ray of Your Brilliance penetrate into the darkness of my understanding and take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, sin and ignorance. Give me a sharp sense of understanding , a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations, and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, help in the completion. Amen

Mandela in his own words

Nelson Mandela’s ability to use words to breathe life into his cause was one of his most powerful weapons in the struggle for black equality in South Africa.

Here is a selection of some of his most compelling quotes.

Conclusion of his three-hour defence speech at his 1964 trial for sabotage and treason:

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.

“But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Letter from Robben Island, April 1971:

“There are times when my heart almost stops beating, slowed down by heavy loads of longing.

“I would love to bathe once more in the waters of Umbashe, as I did at the beginning of 1935.”

On his time imprisoned on Robben Island (from Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom, 1994):

“I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There is no end and no beginning; there is only one’s own mind, which can begin to play tricks. Was that a dream or did it really happen? One begins to question everything. Did I make the right decision, was my sacrifice worth it? In solitary, there is no distraction from these haunting questions.

“But the human body has an enormous capacity for adjusting to trying circumstances. I have found that one can bear the unbearable if one can keep one’s spirits strong even when one’s body is being tested. Strong convictions are the secret of surviving deprivation; your spirit can be full even when your stomach is empty.”

Message read by his daughter Zinzi to a rally in Soweto in 1985:”In the name of the law, I found myself treated as a criminal… not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of my conscience. No-one in his right senses would choose such a life, but there comes a time when a man is denied the right to live a normal life, when he can only live the life of an outlaw because the government has so decreed to use the law.

“The question being asked up and down the country is this: Is it politically correct to continue preaching peace and non-violence when dealing with a government whose barbaric practices have brought so much suffering and misery to Africans? I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I, and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated. I will return.”

Describing the day of his release from prison in 1990 (The Long Walk to Freedom, 1994):

“The cameras started clicking like a great herd of metallic beasts. I raised my right fist and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy.”

On fatherhood (The Long Walk to Freedom, 1994):

“Perhaps I was blinded to certain things because of the pain I felt for not being able to fulfil my role as husband to my wife and father to my children.

“It seems the destiny of freedom fighters to have unstable personal lives… to be the father of a nation is a great honour, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy. But it was a job I had far too little of.”

On prison (The Long Walk to Freedom, 1994):

“A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness… The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”

On reconciliation (on acceptance of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with then President FW de Klerk):

“The value of our shared reward will and must be measured by the joyful peace which will triumph, because the common humanity that bonds both black and white into one human race will have said to each one of us that we shall all live like the children of paradise…

“But there are still some within our country who wrongly believe they can make a contribution to the cause of justice and peace by clinging to the shibboleths [dogmas] that have been proved to spell nothing but disaster.

“It remains our hope that these, too, will be blessed with sufficient reason to realise that history will not be denied and that the new society cannot be created by reproducing the repugnant past, however refined or enticingly repackaged.”

Presidential inauguration speech, 10 May 1994:

“We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall without any fear in their hearts, assured of the inalienable right to human dignity, a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”

“Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another… The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. Let freedom reign. God bless Africa!”

Address to international Aids conference, Durban, July 2000:

“In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/Aids, we have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people. History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so now, and right now.

“Let us not equivocate: A tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Africa. Aids today in Africa is claiming more lives than the sum total of all wars, famines and floods, and the ravages of such deadly diseases as malaria. It is devastating families and communities; overwhelming and depleting health care services; and robbing schools of both students and teachers…

“Aids is clearly a disaster, effectively wiping out the development gains of the past decades and sabotaging the future… Something must be done as a matter of the greatest urgency.”

Message to the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh, July 2005:

“Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times… So much of our common future will depend on the actions and plans of these leaders. They have a historical opportunity to open the door to hope and the possibility of a better future for all…

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom. Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.”

A rare public rebuke for Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, speaking at a dinner in London to mark his 90th birthday:

“We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe.”

At the opening of the 2010 World Cup:

“The people of Africa learnt the lessons of patience and endurance in their long struggle for freedom. May the rewards brought by the Fifa World Cup prove that the long wait for its arrival on African soil has been worth it. Ke nako [It is time].”

On his public image (from Mandela’s second autobiography, Conversations With Myself, 2010):

“One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image I unwittingly projected to the outside world; of being regarded as a saint.

“I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps trying.”

 

 Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10743920