What exactly is self harm?

[Morganamy2000]

Like the title, I was wondering, what really is self harm? Is it always used with a knife or razor? Does it have to draw blood to be classified as self harm? The reason as to why I am asking this is because earlier this year I was going through a really tough time, I started to scratch and dig my nails, deep into my wrist, quite far from drawing blood, but still hurt, does this mean that I have self harmed? And all the questions above?

[Mynick]

I guess you could say self harm is the act of hurting yourself on porpuse, either by cutting, burning, scratching etc etc.
Answering your questions, no you don't always use a razor/knife and no it hasn't to draw blood.

[ksdnfkfr]

It is mainly inflicting a
wound upon yourself.
Something that hurts
and at the very least
leaves a mark.

[Desuetude]

Self harm is when you're intentionally harming yourself. No matter whether it draws blood or how deep a cut may be or how bad it is, if you're trying to hurt yourself it 'counts' as self harm.

The most common forms are cutting and burning but self harm can also be scratching, picking skin, pulling hair, punching yourself, swallowing harmful objects etc. You get the picture but most people just assossiate self harm with cutting and the other forms aren't talked about so often therefore people don't always know if they're related. I think yes that means you've self harmed. If you're thinking about doing it against I'd suggest you look into alternative methods, it's not worth getting caught up in the web of self harm because eventually you'll end up with lasting scars and it's not worth the small amount of release you get from it.

[Katiya]

Its intentionally hurting your self. Even what your doing is SH. Many of us started out like you and got worse and onto cutting ext...

Hitting, biting , scratching, pinching, wound picking, burning, cutting, breaking of bones, throwing your self against a wall or something hard. lots of things.

[Throwaway24]

Self harm is the process in which a person puts themselves in harms way or harm them self often by bringing pain to themselves. This can be done physically or even mentally and is often shown with cuts. The worse the cuts the worse the condition. Some people like the pain it brings so don't do it to deep but others want to die so don't care what they do to themselves.

I swear to god anyone who says people only self harm for attention u can rot in hell. Yes there are sick people out there that do it for attention but there are others that don't want to do it deep but need the pain. Maybe there have loads and loads of little scratches to bring themselves pain but without leaving marks so others may see them. Thus is completely different to attention seeking

[Imaustinigeuss]

any thing u do to ur self on purpose to hurt ur self

[Luminous]

I believe self harm is any form of physically harming yourself. Perhaps the most widely known and even most common kind of SH is cutting, but that does not restrict it to just cutting.

[Synyster Shadows]

I think it can be mental too. I do that a lot to myself - put myself down. Don't know why. But some would probably consider that SH as well as cutting

[Tarannosaurus]

Anything you purposely do to harm yourself counts as self harm. I agree with Nikki, self harm can quickly escalate. Any time you get the urge try and distract yourself. Take care :)

[mermaidfairy]

Any act that deliberately causes you harm is considered self harm. So, it doesn't have to be with a knife or razor, scratching at the skin can be considered self harm too. Cutting isn't the only form of self harm, either. There are other forms such as burning, pulling out the hair, biting, and bruising yourself, for instance. All of them aren't good ways to cope, so you should find other things to do in the place of self harm.

[thatgothgirluknow]

thats how i started then i got more serous