In a systematic review of one hundred nineteen epidemiological studies across eighteen countries, the mean lifetime prevalence of self-injury (i.e., reporting at least one self-injuring episode in lifetime) was estimated to be on average 17.2% among adolescents (ten to seventeen years old) and 13.4% among young adults (eighteen to twenty-four years old), compared to 5.5% among adults (twenty-five years or older) (Swannell et al. While self-injury affects all age groups, research has consistently shown high prevalence among youth. Since the early 1990s, medical and public health communities across the world have reported the growth of self-injury, the deliberate hurting of one’s body by cutting, burning, self-bruising or other methods. As tears flow from her eyes, Ayumu starts sobbing, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” over and over again (Suenobu 2002, 87).Īyumu’s self-cutting, portrayed in a Japanese manga (graphic novel), LIFE (Suenobu 2002-2009 20 volumes), vividly represents increased public attention toward this new “epidemic” among adolescents and young adults (Brumberg 2006). As the pent-up emotion that occupied her a moment ago dissolves with the blood flowing out, so does the imagined face of her former best friend staring at her with hatred. If I want to know what it’s like to get hurt… I have to experience it firsthand.Īfter slicing her arm with a box cutter, Ayumu, a fifteen-year-old high school girl crouches on the floor, leaning against the bed. The only thing that makes me feel better… is pain. As I watched the blood drip… And drip… It was like all the mixed-up thoughts in my head… were flowing out of me.
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