A study last month in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics highlighted graphic YouTube videos of adolescents engaging in what we as clinicians call "self-injury" and kids call "cutting" -- on camera.

The problem is that cutting yourself is not a good long term solution for managing emotional pain. Here's are a few things to keep in mind if you know someone who is self-injuring:

Be aware of all your friends and family, because they may be suffering from severe depression, and it's just bottled up inside them and invisible to others.

Frustratingly few media accounts of self-injury ever address the fundamental reason why people hurt themselves when they're distressed.

We must help undo the damage done by impossibly high academic standards, media portrayals of unrealistic bodies, and other factors that make young women feel like they don't measure up.