Name : Theresia Dolafano Putri Mayola

St# : 191214020

 Mental health in teenagers and why they cut themselves : How to Help a Teen Who Self-
Harms?

Introduction:

 Maybe some people are still taboo on the topic of mental health because often our
society is more concerned with physical health by exercising, be it by running/jogging, the
gym or doing sports from home with themethod work out that is currently in demand.
However, behind it all, it is not necessarily someone who has the awareness in taking care of
their mental health as well as taking care of their physical as well. Mental health is an
inseparable part of health. Mentally healthy is a state when individuals feel well, either
psychologically, emotionally, or socially. Not only applies as an adult but from an early age
health is very important. Not a few issues circulating today are about unstable mental health
in adolescents. 

The importance of mental health for adolescents?

From the cases described above, it shows that the importance of mental health from an early
age. Maintaining mental health is the same as maintaining physical health, because if we try
to take care of what is inside, we will automatically take care of what is outside. In other
words, maintaining mental health means maintaining healthy thoughts and emotions, if we
keep the mind positive, of course, our body will also act to do positive things so that the body
is healthy too.
Factors that affect mental health
Mental health can be affected by a variety of factors including genetics, family relationships,
friends, lifestyle, occupation, social, economic, educational and other environmental factors.
Factors experienced during childhood and adolescence increase the risk of developing mental
health problems. Not only that, other factors that can affect mental health in adolescents are
traumatic events experienced by the teenager such as having experienced violence or sexual
harassment, losing a parent or having been neglected as a child, and feelings of inferiority,
inadequacy, anger and feel lonely.

Why teenagers cut themselves?

The existence of these factors causes feelings of wanting to vent their emotions on
certain things. For example, by shouting as loudly as possible, writing in a diary, or
something else. However, not all teenagers can think clearly like that. When they experience
a problem that they think is very heavy and no one understands them it makes them feel alone
and starts to hurt themselves by cutting.  In some cases, this self-harm stimulates the body's
pain-relieving hormones. In other cases, teens may turn to cutting for pain in an attempt to
escape feelings of emotional numbness.

Does Social Media Trigger Self-Harm?

Factors that encourage teenagers to cut are when they feel very sad and feel they are alone,
feel that no one understands their feelings, and feel that the world is unfair to them. Social
media sometimes triggers these teenagers to cut. Although on various internet pages or social
media applications such as Instagram, efforts have been made to curb the posting of
disturbing images, videos, and other content that promotes or normalizes self-harm, there is
still some content that can trigger teens to cut just by looking at other people's uploads. who
is hurting himself.

Conclusion
Adolescents who have often self-harmed because of depression, excessive anxiety, or
excessive pressure. They are very good at hiding their pain from the environment around
them such as friends, family especially their parents, and their teachers. As a person who does
not have a mental illness, it should be more sensitive to them. If we find a place to consult for
them we can help spread the word because they tend to be more open to people who are used
to dealing with mental illness.
In this paper I am trying to understand more deeply on how to cope with the teenagers
from doing harm to himself or arguably hurt itself by cutting. A simple thing we can do is to
give them support and make them aware that in this world they are not alone and if it is still
not working, immediately refer them to contact a community that is good at dealing with
mental illness or can go directly to a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.