Youth, Narcissism and Self-Harm

Dave Miers writes a great article on his blog about Self-Harm. Pointing to an ABC article just released, Dave notes that there has been a 43% increase in the rate of youth hospitalisations due to self-harm in Australia over the last decade.

The two major methods of self-harm are firstly cutting closely followed by poisoning. This is a very sad and distressing thing indeed. From my limited experience with those who have cut themselves it seems like it's a common way of dealing with emotions which are quite difficult.

While lamenting this sad thing, and without wanting to be overly analytical about it, I'm curious as to the causes of this rising trend. I'll write some thoughts about the trend in this post, and I'll write a hopeful Christian response in the next.

In the ABC radio interview from the article, one of the contributing factors was described as a "Growth in individualism and loss of connection" and I think this could be onto something.

I've been thinking for a while about the culture of narcissism in which we live. That is, the preoccupation with the self. I believe that self-harm might be one of the outworkings of our culture of narcissism.

If the Other outside of the Self becomes merely a way to reflect the Self, then the Self-Other relationship becomes a Self-Self relationship. This can be illustrated by the modern loss of history, consumerist society and even total subjectivity in art! Ultimate Truth and Reality are totally self-referential. I'm lost inside myself. Trapped inside the cosmos.

What can make the ghost in the machine come alive? What becomes the criteria for what is real? That which impacts me existentially - the criteria of which is the sensational. The intense.

This can be seen in religion. The sociologist, Hugh Mackay writes in Advance Australia... Where?: "While many people express a yearning for clearer articulation of non-material values without resort to institutional religion, the whole idea of spirituality has acquired new currency. This may be an inevitable reaction to an over-cooked materialism, but it has also arisen from our sustained epidemic of anxiety and an associated desire to find a still point in the midst of swirling uncertainty." Is this any clearer than in the rapid growth of meditation, pagan worship, and experiential religion in western society today?

But now, what about self-harm? What is the link between the forementioned 'loss of connection' and self-harm? Well at that very moment of cutting yourself you cease to be a ghost. The intense experience transcends the self. I do exist in relation to something outside of myself. I do touch reality. I am connected to something out there.

Further, I believe that eating binges bring a similar physical sensation in order to bring the ghost alive. Not only that, but drug trips, bringe drinking, danger sports, eroticism, modern film (think Tarentino!) - all new and frightening heights of experience to feel alive. To bring the ghost alive!

Intense experience is something which I believe our narcissistic culture relies on like a positive reinforcement model to find the Self some point of contact with the Other. To be found inside myself and the cosmos.

There is a hope for reconnection to God, mankind and yourself in reality. The disconnection is in all of us, but there is a hope in the Christian cross. I'll write soon about this place of restoration.