Self Harm

Self-injury (SI) or self-harm (SH) is deliberate injury inflicted by a person upon their own body without suicidal intent.

It is estimated that nearly two million people in the United States harm themselves in some way. The majority is teenagers. A majority of the teenagers are young women opposed to young men. Self-injurers can be of any race or background.

Why?

They find it soothing:

To feel pain on the outside instead of the inside
To cope with feelings
To express anger towards themselves
To feel alive and real

A way of communicating what they can't say with words:

To tell people they need help
To get people's attention
To tell people they should be in hospital

An attempt to get people to react to their actions:

To get people to care for them
To make other people feel guilty
To drive people away
To get away from stress and responsibility"

- Essortment.com

Causes

Causes of self-harm include sexual abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, stress, depression, and other problems that make a person feel the need to feel anything. Even if that feeling is physical pain.

Treatment

Recovery and treatment from self harm includes therapy, medication to treat depression, and peer support.

It is important to understand that not all therapists are qualified and prepared to handle self harm. It is very critical to find a professional that can help you the way you need to be helped.

As for medication, it often is for anxiety or depression since those are underlying symptoms with self harm. It can take several weeks for these medications to become effect and build up the proper chemicals in your body.

It is so crucial that friends and family support getting better because without their support, self injurers have no motivation and back up to push through rough times.

The single most important factor to recovery according to several psychologists, is wanting to get better. If a self-injurer does not want to get better and get away from this trouble, they will not. They have to be dedicated and want to be safe and not self harm.

Forums

For more information and discussion on self-harm and support, please visit our Self Harm and Cutting Forums.

Sources

Mayo Clinic
HelpGuide.org
Essortment.com
Personal Discussions with professionals

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