December 8, 2006

Are We Facing an Epidemic of Self-Injury?

By JOAN JACOBS BRUMBERG

"When I was cutting myself," Natalie told me in a matter-of-fact way, "I wore big bracelets, and because I like to sew, I had lots of fabric in my room which I tied in bands around my wrists." Over a lengthy lunch at the Moosewood Restaurant, in Ithaca, N.Y., the articulate 18-year-old from an affluent suburb spoke confidently about plans to enter Boston University and study child psychology, all the while narrating her personal history as a "cutter."

Natalie seemed to be at ease

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