LADY INJURY: Melissa C Water (My Review of Her Book)

.I had meant to write this earlier, but developed computer issues. Here goes:
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Every year I have to re certify on training on self injury and suicide. This training is dry and big on the "whys" but lacks information on telling people how to "just stop it." As I pointed out to one of my co-workers, imagine telling a smoker to stop smoking without the added replacement of sucking on candy, or a nicotine patch or whatever other crutch they chose. If it's a behavior that people need because they're anxious or are afraid of feeling, they need to have something to replace that coping mechanism. This year, I also had to do a "Mental Health" refresher. I had just finished reading "Lady Injury" by Melissa C Water when I attended that course. Somebody posed the question of what to do with the self-injuring person. The person giving the course told us that the worst thing to do, if possible, is to place them in a clinical setting. Don't give them attention, he said, unless they are a real harm to themselves. It will only cause the behavior to increase and worsen. Hmmm....this differed from the experience that Ms Water encountered in the book.
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Melissa Water speaks openly about her experience with self injury and an eating disorder. She does so without making it sound glamorous. I highly value her ability to do this. There are far too many people who seek validation in posting photos or videos of themselves to prove that they were somehow the sickest or the thinnest. Alcoholics on a dry drunk know that feeling; people getting excited by comparing notes on their disease. Melissa manages to write so that she provides information and a warning; heed my words.
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"Lady Injury" details what happened to Melissa when she admitted to her doctor that she was self injuring. Her confession got her confined to the mental health unit. What was initially to be a short stay became a long one. A woman who had always functioned on her own, sank into an eating disorder. I don't want to give away the plot, so I will say that issues from her childhood prevented easy treatment. She endured restraints, observation rooms and medication that caused side effects.
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I found myself questioning some of the treatment she was given. For example, female patients were openly mixed with male patients. As many of them may have had assault trauma in their background, I don't see this as a great idea. Obviously, in mental health units people cannot lock their own doors. There would therefore be security issues allowing for a male patient to walk into a room. People need to be able to focus on getting well, not on somebody grabbing them, or flirting with them.
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People don't understand this behavior; even those who take the courses. People do it for different reasons. The teenaged girl with too much eye-liner who does it once and posts it on Youtube does not have the same motivation as the person who hides it, wears long sleeves and feels shame. That person's like the highly functioning alcoholic. Melissa opens the eyes of the reader when she describes her intense need at times to punish herself. As with people who suffer from OCD, once the thought is there, it goes on and on and on....She is graphic in the drive which propels her and it will shock some.
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I think parents who have teenaged girls whom they suspect of "cutting" would benefit from reading this book. Melissa has a Youtube channel and a large number of girls have watched her videos. People who work around kids or in the social services also need to learn more about this topic.
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The book follows the format of a journal.