As a parent whose had to deal with their children cutting themselves, this brings back sad memories. With my pre-teen daughter, it was brought on by her struggles with anger management, stress, trying to discover her sexual identity, school pressures, peer pressures (girls can be fucking bitches), etc.
And as you continue to observe the signs, have discussions with therapists and doctors, you sleep uneasily for the next 5 years or so until they are hopefully able to better handle the daily pressures of life.
I don't wish this on anybody.
My daughter is alot better, is further along her teenage years, and has better tools to articulate and keep her frustrations at bay. Now she uses her internal pressures to motivate herself to kick butt at school.
But that monster never goes away...Current discussions center around convincing her that an 85 is not a failing score. And no college acceptance is worth stressing yourself out over (looking at you UT...) It's so much fun being a parent....
But goddamn, I could never imagine myself being such a calloused sociopath to have this going on in my home and not be empathetic towards my fellow man, and not have that steer my influence.