More and more teenagers are engaging in self-harm and are utilizing the internet to post actual images simply because they have no one else to turn to, according to the Daily Mail.
Mental health charities say the disturbing trend is occurring because of the ease of accessing the sites through smartphones. They also claim that most of these young people who post their self-harm images do so because 'they don't have anyone else to turn to'. Franki Eaton, 25, has been self-harming for the past 11 years and recently appeared on the show This Morning as part of a self-harm awareness bit.
Eaton claims that she engaged in self-harm as a form of release and the pain shocks her from feeling low. Francis Burrow, operations director of the charity Mindfull, said that mobile application such as Instagram and Snapchat had made self-harming selfies an emerging and worrying phenomenon. "These apps provide a place where people can post images and then have other comment on them."
"And these images can have a profound effect on people. They see what other people have done and it gives them validation to do the same. Most people look at these images and are shocked - but for these young people it can become competitive. They look at an image and think "they've cut deeper" than me - and then they think they must do it. It's rather like the "thinspiration" sites - but these apps make everything more instant."
"Sadly, this can lead to posts encouraging them to harm themselves more. Schools are coming to us saying they have a problem but don't know how to address it. But it can go the other way, too, where they are bullied or trolled because of their pictures. This then turns into a vicious cycle where they self-harm even more."
