Do you remember when...

"Cutting" one's self was considered a sign of mental illness and indicated a strong propensity toward self-harm and suicide?

Parents were advised to seek professional medical help when their child started "cutting". Failure to follow this advice could result in a visit by Child Protective Services.

The professions believed that the befuddled teen or pre-teen felt psychic pain but was unable to identify the cause or unable to control the cause. The lack-of-control  bothered the child to such an extent that he/she used "cutting" to re-establish control in some part of their life, no matter how narrow.

Since twice as many girls report cutting themselves as boys (source), it seems reasonable to assume that social issues like (not popular) and inability to attain impossible body-image standards (thanks, social influencers) are major drivers.

Now, teens are given a pre-canned, do-all answer for their unhappiness. "You have gender dysphoria, but we can fix that by cutting you and billing your insurance company."

The professionals cannot see the profound stupidity of their flip-flop. Superficial cutting in areas that were usually not visible was "bad" when it was done by the kid but deep, profound, irreversible cutting is "good" when it is done by a professional and it generates billing events.

And your feelz good picture for this Monday