Young girls in Singapore turn to self-mutilation
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Sunday February 4, 2007
Singapore- Girls as young as 12 are slashing their arms
with penknives in a pact phenomenon that is alarming Singapore's
psychiatrists and counsellors, The Sunday Times reported.
"That they are starting as young as primary school is quite
disconcerting," consultant psychiatrist Brian Yeo was quoted as
saying.
In a recent incident, a group of students in an all-girls' primary
school made a collective pact to slash their arms with penknives.
The marks on their arms escaped their families' notice, with the
incident only coming to light after teachers discovered the scars.
"It was not a mass-hysteria thing, nor was it ritualistic," the
vice principal told the newspaper. It is believed one or two of the
girls initiated the idea the others followed.
The girls are undergoing counselling and their parents were
informed, reacing with dismay and confusion.
Pack-slashing may have become the latest "fashion" among young
girls in the city-state, said Dr Carol Balhetchet, Singapore
Children's Society director of youth services.
"Young girls seem to want to do things together as a pact,"
Balhetchet said. "When someone says she wants to cut herself, they
will all do it together because they feel it's cool."
Such mutilation happens to more girls than boys.
Boys slash themselves too, to show off or as an act of bravado,"
Adelyn Poh, co-founder of the Children-At-Risk Empowerment
Association, told the newspaper.
"Girls, however, tend to do it as a re-direction of their pain,"
she said.
Psychiatrists are concerned that those mutilating themselves are
starting younger. Yeo said the phenomenon usually does not occur
until secondary school.
He expressed particular concern about group slashers who
eventually turn to doing it on their own.
"That means they are more troubled and they usually make more
horrendous cuts, in less visible places, like the inner thighs and
upper parts of the arms," Yeo said.
Parents were urged to spend time with their offspring and get to
know the kind of influences that bombard them.
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
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