[Maru]

mmm, I don't know that I believe that statistic... simply because they're not very specific in what they define as self-harm...

Source: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discove...teenage-girls/

“Of course we need to bear in mind the weaknesses of our study – we used routine general practice data and some episodes of self-harm might have been missed. And the level of detail for things like method of self-harm was limited.

I had a friend growing up who used to cut when she was 12... when I didn't even know that was a thing. I can't imagine hating myself to that point. She did it for years after, though to a lesser extent when she moved further away from puberty (about the age bracket they said they was a spike)... I was terrified for her well-being and it was stressful because we never knew when because she would just pop... she could become inconsolable/hysterical. Especially if someone said anything remotely critical to her that brought out her deep feelings of low self-worth... she had issues with attention-seeking as well and fueling drama, but that seemed to vary with her bipolar, where-ever she was sitting that week... but it seemed like every so often, over a consistent timescale, she would have an episode of cutting... she had a big support from home and a lot of affectionate friendships (she was very charismatic and creatively/musically gifted), so it had nothing to do with a lack of support imo... last I spoke to her she was still performing occasionally in public but she had difficulty being functional other than that and simple social activity.

But yeah, if it is even remotely that common, then God help our kids...