UK Nurses’ Organization Supports Supervised Self-Injury

For some background on this issue read my March 22, 2006 post: Hospital Permits Self-Injury

In a debate at the Royal College of Nursing's Bournemouth Conference the majority of nurses supported allowing some type of "safe" self-harm for patients.

Read the BBC News article

 

My concern is that health professionals are supporting this for the wrong reasons. Getting self-injurers to use sterilized tools and properly care for their wounds will reduce emergency room visits. And hospitalized patients that are allowed to self-harm during their stay will probably be calmer leading to shorter hospital stays and less conflicts between patients and staff. "Safe" self-harm sounds like a great idea for the country's health-care budget. But I'm not sure that it's what's best for the patient.

Wednesday Quote of the Week: Joel Sax from “Pax Nortona”

Sunday, April 23, 2006:

Principles that I strive to follow: Listen before you decide to speak. Affirm the feelings, no matter how horrendous the actions might be. When someone is in depression, encourage. When someone is in mania, just shut up and listen. It is better to say “I feel your pain and I want you to know that you are not alone. I’m here to listen” than to say “This is how I get rid of that” which often amounts to “How can you be so stupid as to get yourself in that position?” The aim is to help the person stabilize, not to give them a guilt trip for becoming unbalanced. And remember that your words do affect others.

 

Read the rest of Joel's post: "Too Full of Feedback" for more on his recent experience in a support group and recommendations on how to be supportive.