I have never seen any study or observation about the parallels of forms of self-injury and forms of eating disorders in people who have suffered from severe trauma, such as abuse. However, after reading hundreds, if not thousands, of stories from child abuse survivors, I have noticed a pattern. I want to share this pattern with you in case you are parenting an adopted child who suffered from trauma, such as abuse, before joining your home. I am hoping that my observations will help you to understand your adopted child a little better.

I have talked with numerous abuse survivors who have used both cutting and anorexia to manage their pain.

Adoptive parents Kathy and Steve Rhoten have been indicted on two counts each of criminal restraint for tying their teenage daughter to the adoptive father's belt and then to the sofa to prevent her from self-injuring. The daughter had been hiding knives, pins, and other sharp objects for cutting herself. The child has been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) but was not diagnosed until after she began cutting herself.

This story is tragic on so many levels. Where do I even begin?

In my last three posts, I discussed three of the more well-known forms of self-injury (also known as self-harm or self-mutilation), which are cutting, burning, and head-banging, and provided insights into the emotional state of the adopted child who uses each of these forms of self-injury. In this post, I will discuss other forms of self-injury with which your traumatized adopted child might wrestle.

Unfortunately, I have not known enough people who wrestle with these other forms of self-injury to provide a profile like I did for the other three forms. The one observation I have made is that the more physical pain inflicted, the deeper the underlying trauma tends to run.

The form of self-injury that your adopted child uses can provide you with insight into your adopted child's unmet emotional needs. By identifying the child's unmet emotional needs, you will be in a better position to know how to help your adopted child to stop using self-injury to manage his emotions.

The form of self-injury that most people know about is called cutting. When a person who cuts feels overwhelmed emotionally, she will cut superficial wounds into her skin. Frequently, the cuts are inflicted on the arm, but they can be inflicted pretty much anywhere on the body. People who cut often choose places that are covered by clothing to minimize how many scars are visible to the world.

Another form of self-injury that does not get as much press is called burning.