how to help my daughter?

My daughter is 16 she is being treated for depression (since August) was in an inpatient program in November. I just recently found out that she has been burning herself. She just shared this with her tharapist as well. Can anyone help me understand why she is doing this and what if any treatment might help her?
Thank You
Susan

Hi Susan!

Welcome to PC.

There are some resources here on the site that may help to understand this addiction but to put it simply - causing injury to oneself is a coping mechanism to deal with something else.

Does her therapist know about the self-injury?

All you can really do is be supportive and try to get her to stop the behaviour now (if possible). But it has to be her decision - forcing someone to give up their way of 'coping' will just make things worse - even if it is painful to watch someone do damage to themselves.

There are a lot of good books out there to help understand self-injury, if you're interested in reading. Otherwise, can you talk to your daughter in a non-confrontational way and see how you can help? Some people do well with talking out their feelings. Or finding new ways to deal with things. (Posted list in this forum about what you can do instead of SIng is a good tool to look at).

Book ideas (I've read them, they're sometimes painful to read but useful to understand this addiction)

- "Bodily Harm" by Karen Conterio and Wendy Lader
- "Cutting - Understanding and Overcoming Self Mutilation" by Steven Levenkron

... if I can help in any way, please send me a PM!

Christina,
thank you, thank you for the book suggestions I'm going to try to find them ASAP. My daughter just told her thearapist yesterday of the self-injury. During the session my daughter asked that I be allowed to sit in so I am hopefull maybe that was a good sign.

(((((momto2)))))

I'm sorry to hear that your daughter is in so much pain All the resources Christina pointed to sound very helpful, so I hope that those help you out. I think that right now its VERY critical that your daughter knows you're there for her. And there is a fine line between being there, and pushing too hard to be there. Give her open-ended opportunities to talk to you, tell her you're there, but don't by any means push her into talking about it (not saying you are).

It is SUCH a good sign that she requested you be there. This shows that she trusts you and feels comfortable enough talking with you about it. Sometimes all we need in life is to know that we have people here that care about us .. this could be her way of reaching out, and it sounds like you're doing the right things to help to catch her.

Hugs to you both,
Jacq

i think it's a very good sign...i was really close to my mom but, i never told her that i si... i really have never told anyone except for my t and the people online... sounds like your doing the right things... i would just add that sometimes when people try and force me to stop or to talk about it... it makes it worse.