CounselEd
Self-injurious Behavior in Social Media Consumed Youth
4
stressful situation (Favozza & Rosenthall, 1993). This
seems to accurately describe the perfect storm of
predictable middle/high school challenges, the dangers
of social media, the immature adolescent brain, and
perceived trauma.
Navigating the minefields of social media requires a
degree of maturity that comes with the executive func-
tioning of a prefrontal cortex. Humans are born with an
immature brain that continues to develop from birth to
about age 25 (Spear, 2000). During adolescence, the
frontal cortex is under major construction. It is the last
part of the brain to develop and takes the longest to
finish. Essentially, massive remodeling in the highest
functioning part of the brain only begins in adolescence
(Spear, 2000). The prefrontal cortex is responsible for
judgment, impulse control, planning and goal setting,
problem solving, and decision making. It is the part of
the brain that pilots complex social and stressful situa-
tions (Spear, 2000). A cortex under construction results
in adolescents operating from more primitive parts of
the brain, such as the limbic system, to manage their
emotions (Whitlock, Powers, & Eckenrode, 2006). Thus,
they are more likely to react versus engage in thought-
ful reasoning. They are more likely to misinterpret body
language and are generally more vulnerable to stress
while applying significantly disproportionate meaning to
events or experiences (Spear, 2000). The limbic sys-
tem, consisting of the amygdala, hippocampus, thala-
mus, hypothalamus, and cingulate gyrus, is the brain’s
epicenter of emotion. This driving force in adolescents’
perception and thinking is responsible for ascribing
meaning to emotion and pain, and for regulating ag-
gressive behavior (Spear, 2000; Maczewski, 2002).
Coincidently, the limbic system is also the trauma
response center. It acts as an alarm system, triggering
the fight or flight response, monitoring anything outside
our bodies that may pose an actual or perceived threat
to us (Spear, 2000). This response stimulates the endo-
crine system and releases endorphins while adrenalin
surges to the arms and legs. Bicknell-Hentges, & Lynch
(2009) noted, “As the physiology of trauma becomes
better understood, many of the behavioral manifesta-
tions of trauma exposure make even more sense.”
Youth experiencing their traumatic adolescent years in
a social-media consumed era may be drawn to self-
destructive behavior such as SIB (Bicknell-Hentges &
Lynch, 2009). Studies suggest that what determines the
difference between what feels thrilling versus what is
dangerous is the perception of being in control of the
situation (Bicknell-Hentges & Lynch, 2009; Hollander,
2008). Although it might seem counterintuitive to thera-
pists when youth engage in behavior on social media,
such as sharing pictures of self-injuries, it functionally
exercises the developing mechanism of control. How-
ever, lacking insight, youth consequently expose them-
selves to potential for compounded trauma via negative