Trauma Reenactment
People who've experienced serious trauma in their lives often engage in self-injurious methods that recall earlier childhood abuse. This behavior is called trauma reenactment because the self-injurer has encorporated the role of both abuser and victim into the behavior. While other forms of self-injury serve to distract the person, trauma reenactment continually reminds the person of the earlier abuse. Since society tends to discourage girls from acting assertively, and girls who've survived trauma sometimes are very angry, they turn that rage inward and hurt themselves. Feelings of anger at the abuser prompt the violence; feelings of shame, and a sense of being responsible for the abuse explain why they harm themselves. Dusty Miller, co-author of "Women Who Hurt Themselves", believes this may be the reason that self-injury is more common among females than males. Society encourages men to express their anger outwardly, so they are less likely to hurt themselves.

Emotional Stressors
One of the most important things about adolescence is that most teens want to fit in. They don't want to be "different" because people who are different stand out and get teased and hassled by their peers. The pressure to be like everyone else can be very difficult to handle.

PEER PRESSURE- Not all teens feel this desperate about fitting in with their peers. However, it's very difficult to ignore peer pressure and not be influenced by it. Many people, including teens, feel a strong need to be like everyone else. It's hard to decide whether you want to do what everyone else is doing or obey your own values. Low self-esteem makes it even harder to stand on your own. Sometimes teens feel pressured to be thinner, smarter, or wealthier than they really are. Trying to (and failing) to live up to others expectations can make you feel anger, anxiety, dissapointment, and worse, self-disgust. Dealing with these feelings by developing healthy coping skills can help someone handle the problems of negative peer pressure.

ACADEMIC PRESSURE- Sometimes, it's not your peers who pressure you to live up to their expectations. Rather, it's your parents and teachers who urge you to meet their tough standards. Holding high expectations for you isn't always a bad thing, unless it's not something you want for yourself or it's not a goal you're capable of reaching.

ROMANTIC BREAKUPS- Sometimes, teenagers have a hard time recovering from a breakup. They may attach themselves so strongly to their boyfriends or girlfriends that they feel they wouldn't have lives without them. Low self-esteem and inadequate coping skills can result in a number of strong, negative feelings such as anger, rejection, and grief. Teens who've grown up without much stability in their lives may seek that stability in relationships. Once attached, they're not prepared when the objects of their affections falls out of love with them. Sometimes, the emotional pain of rejection feels worse than any other physical pain you might experience.

IDENTITY ISSUES- Teenagers often experiment with their identities, trying on different roles, casting off what doesn't feel right to them. Are they bright students, are they athletes, are they social butterflies? Sometimes, you try out different roles to find the one that fits.

LOSSES- Life is full of losses. Divorce and death are the two main experiences of separation in a teenager's life. You may not be prepared to cope with the difficult feelings that erupt when faced with these kinds of losses. Young people often take these major events personally, feeling they are responsible for their parent's divorce. Or they believe the accident in which their parents died was somehow their fault-even if they were miles away at the time.

LONELINESS AND ISOLATION- Friends are a very important support system. It's natural to feel some emotional pain if you don't have friends or people who care about you. Being lonely makes it hard to handle all the stress that can come along.

SENSITIVITY TO FAILURE- Adolescence is a time of insecurity and pressure to succeed. It's not suprising that teenagers may be sensitive about failure. Failure means the possibility of losing approval, which can lead to feelings of isolation and depression.