My friend has a rubberband on her wrist?

Question

I wondered what kind of damage that can do....its been there for 3 weeks, and it tight on her wrist, and has broken the skin in opne part and the skin is actually starting to grow around it, and she says she isnt allowed to remove it for 2 more weeks, i wondered what kind of damage is it doing? Im concerened.

Answer 1

she is involved in some sick stuff!

Answer 2

She sounds like she is purposely trying to injure herself. When she feels stress she is probably snapping the rubberbands to hurt herself on purpose. The only other reason for her wearing rubberbands on her wrist would be if her parents are abusing her and using the rubberbands as a punishment. If her wrists look sore and skin is growing over it, tell your mother or father about it.
If your parents do nothing about it and/or she still has rubberbands on her wrists when school starts, tell your new teacher, the school counselor, the school nurse and any adult who will listen to you. Your friend may have a serious emotional problem and she probably needs to talk to someone and have someone make her take the rubberbands off.
Ask your friend who told her she has to wear the rubberbands (because no one would ever make someone wear rubberbands on their wrists unless someone was abusing her). Then tell her to take them off, wash her wrists with soap and water, dry them, put rubbing alcohol on them, and then apply bandages and neosporin cream to the wounds. And then also tell your parents that your friend has a serious problem.

Answer 3

She might be wearing it due to some kind of urge issue she has -whether she cuts herself, overeats, bulimia, etc - people are told to wear rubber bands on wrists and snap them by some therapists who advocate behavior modification techniques - if she were to get an urge, she would snap the rubber band to stop that urge - people say it works so ask her if that is what it is for-
and if it is for that purpose - tell her it does not have to be so tight to work to snap your wrist with it. Cutting is something some depressed or suicidal people do to kind of equate their inner pain with their outer pain - to hurt themselves to feel (like the NIN song Hurt about heroin) - anyway it is hard to tell why she does it cause I don't know her but people even do it for sports - it is like a punishment to snap your wrist with it - for missing shots, bad urges, etc - Does she play basketball by chance. See if you don't understand why it is like this - she has a bad thought or misses a shot or something bad or wrong to her - snaps the band - it is a form of classical conditioning (as in Pavlov's dogs, if you've learned about that)

This type of learning takes the neutral stimulus (negative thoughts), and creates a conditioned stimulus (the snapping of the rubber band) along w/ a conditioned response (analysis/change of thoughts). Eventually, if successfully completed, when you experience the neutral stimulus (the negative thoughts), you will skip over the conditioned stimulus (the snapping of the rubberband), and go straight to the conditioned response (analysis/change of thoughts). Does that make sense at all?? I hope so - I think this is what it must be for but if she has skin growing over it - that's a major problem

In other words, you eventually skip the punishment unconsciously, because you have created a connection from the problem to the solution = after you realize a problem, you immediately take action to resolve it.


If u ask her and she doesn't respond call her parents and tell them unless her parents aren't around - but give her guardian a call and tell them to talk to her and just to bring it up without mention of your name if u want

That is why I wonder if it is for some kind of therapy though cause I would think her parents would have noticed this and had her take it off by nice unless they knew why it was there you are her friend and good friends are concerned about their friends if they feel they are hurting themselves or need help and want to help them so good for you for being worried and trying to help - you are a good friend - but friends should be able to talk openly to so try to get her to open up - ask he what it is for and why she can't wear a looser one and who is making her wear it and why two more weeks etc. Don't give her the grand inquisition like I just wrote out - make it more natural and less obvious -bring it up over some time. You are a good friend though and you are doing the right thing =)

Answer 4

Some of the answers are pretty funny.

About the rubber band, that can't be healthy. It sounds kinda disgusting too. She's probably doing it for attention or because she has some kind of disorder where she thinks self-harm is cool or a good way to cope with things. Either way, it's gotta go. Cut it off, talk to her about it, get someone else involved, or all of the above. Just get rid of it.

I swear, kids get weirder and weirder every day.

Answer 5

You are a good friend to be concerned. Have you told her parents? Maybe you should. If she doesn't live at home, try to get her to see someone that can help. It sounds as if your friend believes something will happen if she keeps the rubber band on for a set length of time (other than the physical damage she is potentially causing herself). That is superstition. Maybe you can try talking to her about it from that angle.

Don't give up on her. And thank you for being a friend!

Answer 6

Rubber bands are generally dirty, the most likely damage resulting from this is infection.

Your friend's self destructive behavior sounds like a cry for help. Talk to her and warn her of the potential for infection and that this can cause serious health problems, but more importantly, listen carefully to what she says and if she doesn't take it off, discreetly tell her parents or guardian about it, because it has the potential to be serious.

Answer 7

if u r a good friend, u would just ask her why she isn't taking it out. and u would just be concern. but, if u r a great friend, u would take her hand, and cut the damn thing off (sry for the bad language)! cause it will create an obstacle to the most important blood vessel on ur body. did u know tht if u slit ur wrist, u will die with 2-3 minutes? this is cause of the lack of blood going back to ur heart. u could even feel ur heartbeat on ur wrist!!! don u know how damn important it is?? no matter the consequences, just cut it off or she'll die. do u want her to go away forever or face the consequences but not having to lose her? i would definitely cut the thing off as i treasure my friend and i would definitely not want to lose her no matter if it cost me my life! so, sit back and think about it. perhaps if it didn't come off by 2 weeks, she's either dead or will face lots of health problems when she is older. i hope u treasure her life. just cut tht damn stupid thing off!!

Answer 8

no. its perfectly fine. actually, snapping ur wrist w/ a rubberband is a method to help keep u from cutting. its actaully a good thing that ur doing this cuz its way better than cutting. excellent job on fighting the urge! just dont take it too far.

Answer 9

I'm concerned as to why she isn't allowed to remove it?

Cutting off blood circulation can be EXTREMELY dangerous. People can lose appendages by cutting off blood. If this is a mental issue, tell a teacher or counselor at you school, this could also be a form of self mutilation.

Answer 10

It shouldn't be life threatening... if her wrist and fingers are not turning color.... have you asked her why she won't take it off, and what's magical for two weeks? Maybe you could put one on your wrist and she'll start asking you questions.....
Hmmm.. you have me curious, let us all know what you find out.

Answer 11

Sounds like a cult thing. She needs to get it off. She can cause major damage to her hand and circulation of the hand. She must be slightly 'touched' in the head to do this.