Amid reports of “collective self-injury” among students at a high school in Nantou County, an urgent investigation yesterday showed that nine students were found to have harmed themselves either because of stress, emotional factors or personal enjoyment.
Reports started spreading after a parent of one of the school’s students informed electronic media there was “collective self-injury” going on at the school involving as many as 100 students.
Yesterday morning, a large crowd of reporters turned up at the school to investigate the story and interview students. Shocked by the burst of media interest, the school’s principal asked teachers and counselors to investigate the matter.
The investigation determined that these were sporadic incidents as opposed to group behavior.
The principal said there were substantial differences between the rumors and the facts. The principal said nine students at the school were found to have scratched their hands or arms with craft knives during the past year, but these were individual and unconnected cases, rather than a collective activity.
The principal said the nine students who had harmed themselves included four first-year, three second-year and two third-year students.
The investigation showed that their reasons for hurting themselves included stress from coursework, family issues and emotional factors, although the four first-year students said they had done it just for fun or “because they were bored.”
The principal said that after each case was discovered, teachers and counselors were assigned to help the students involved.
In a case that was known about prior to the investigation, one of the students had fallen into the habit of self-mutilation — scratching her arms with a knife when she became stressed. Since her problem was rather serious, she was sent to see specialists at a hospital for treatment, which lasted more than a month. She has since managed to control her behavior.
The principal said the teachers and counselors adopted a sympathetic approach and sought to help the students deal with their problems, while at the same time encouraging them to respect their bodies and their lives.
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