I just discovered my 16-year-old has marked patterns into the skin on his bicep with a paperclip. I am horrified. He said he was "just bored." He thinks it's "cool" and was showing it off to friends ... until I noticed it. The scratches were deep enough to bleed/scab. (He was not hiding it from me ... I just hadn't seen it until this week.) He's shown no outward signs of depression or destructive behavior. Can this impulsive behavior be related to ADD? Is this the same as "cutting"?

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