What Is Self-Harm?
Self-harm is the deliberate damaging of body tissue, more often than not, without conscious intent to commit suicide. It has also been described as "self-mutilation", "self-injury", "auto-aggression", "delicate self-cutting", and a number of other terms.
Little is known about self-harm and yet it is quite a common act of abuse. Most see it as "attention-seeking" or "manipulative" but it can be better described as the expression of an inner scream.
Cutting the skin with razors, scalpels or broken bits of glass are the most commonly seen methods of self-harm, although other methods include burning, scratching, carving the skin, interfering with wounds, punching oneself (or punching walls), and also pressing objects (including needles) into the skin. Often the body's natural 'pain killers' will take over so that when a person harms themselves they frequently do not feel 'realistic' pain.
This self-inflicted injury could be viewed as a symbolic way of expressing deep distress - a non verbal form of communication in which feelings are expressed through self-injurious actions, where they can be dealt with in a more visible way, yet because of its very visibility, self-harm is often treated with mistrust and prejudice.
In any circumstance, it is difficult, if not impossible, to categorise people into groups according to their characteristics , and this goes for "the type" of people who injure themselves. There is a wide variety of people who self-injure although several factors have been described as common in the backgrounds of those who repeatedly harm themselves.
These factors include : -
Childhood, physical, or sexual abuse
Violence at home
Stormy parental relations or broken homes
Loss of parent through death or divorce
Lack of emotional warmth (neglect)
Illness resulting in hospitalisation during early childhood
Parental depression or alcoholism
Confinement in residential institution
In response to the question of "who is likely to harm themselves?", a general answer would be that although certain characteristics may be common, it is impossible to say that one person is more likely to self-harm than another because people respond to different situations in different ways.
One thing to remember is that self-harm is not something that people do for attention. More often than not, people will go out of their way to hide their scars and they are likely to lie about how they got them. They will try their hardest to avoid being found out and will hide, or destroy, blood-stained clothing.
The most important thing is to realise that people who harm themselves are not trying to commit suicide. Many people who harm themselves may not have any suicidal thoughts at all, and use self-harm as a way of coping with different problems. On the other hand, many self-harmers may have attempted suicide in the past and now harm themselves as a way of controlling suicidal thoughts
Unfortunately there is no easy answer, as self-harm is a very complex behaviour which no-one fully understands.
Why do people self harm?
People often harm themselves because they can find no other way to relieve a feeling of being overwhelmed by intense emotions.
These emotions commonly fall into five groups:
Anger and frustration : Feeling so wound up and annoyed that you want to scream and shout. (in this case animals would claw at themselves).
Low self esteem (punishment) : Feeling so undervalued and low that you want to harm and feel you may even deserve it.
Dissociation : Feeling so overwhelmed by everything going on around, they want to escape or distract themselves by making a louder metaphorical noise.
Control and focus : Feeling that so much is out of your control that the only thing that you can control is the harm you inflict on yourself.
Self nurture : Feeling unreal and needing to harm to know you exist, or to help yourself heal.
Normally someone who is self harming will be able to identify at least one of these, if not more, as a reason for their behaviour.
5. Why do people continue self harming?
Once someone has found a way of coping, that both works and brings relief, it is a very daunting prospect to try relinquishing that way of coping in favour of another.
When someone cuts themselves, they send a rush of endorphins through the body, that travel to the wound sight to help heal it. The experience of this is described as being similar to being walked up on from behind and startled, and then taking a sudden intake of breath to recover from the fright: the relief of that breath feels similar to the buzz felt by harmers. This feeling is addictive and is considered as a chemical addiction, underlining why it can be difficult to stop harming.
6. How do you know if someone is self harming?
The short answer is you might not: it is a very secretive thing, and often purposefully hidden from others. A person is three times more likely to harm if they feel they lack emotional support, so those who are isolated, or feel isolated, may be more likely to harm. Those who find coping with the strains of life very difficult may also self harm.
How To Help
You must resist the temptation to step in and 'solve' the problem because healing can only be effective if the individual finds their own strengths and builds on them. What you can offer is support and encouragement.
Try not to get angry at them for harming themselves - This merely reinforces the self-disgust that they already feel and remember that he/she would stop if they could.
Self-harm is the deliberate damaging of body tissue, more often than not, without conscious intent to commit suicide. It has also been described as "self-mutilation", "self-injury", "auto-aggression", "delicate self-cutting", and a number of other terms.
Little is known about self-harm and yet it is quite a common act of abuse. Most see it as "attention-seeking" or "manipulative" but it can be better described as the expression of an inner scream.
Cutting the skin with razors, scalpels or broken bits of glass are the most commonly seen methods of self-harm, although other methods include burning, scratching, carving the skin, interfering with wounds, punching oneself (or punching walls), and also pressing objects (including needles) into the skin. Often the body's natural 'pain killers' will take over so that when a person harms themselves they frequently do not feel 'realistic' pain.
This self-inflicted injury could be viewed as a symbolic way of expressing deep distress - a non verbal form of communication in which feelings are expressed through self-injurious actions, where they can be dealt with in a more visible way, yet because of its very visibility, self-harm is often treated with mistrust and prejudice.
In any circumstance, it is difficult, if not impossible, to categorise people into groups according to their characteristics , and this goes for "the type" of people who injure themselves. There is a wide variety of people who self-injure although several factors have been described as common in the backgrounds of those who repeatedly harm themselves.
These factors include : -
Childhood, physical, or sexual abuse
Violence at home
Stormy parental relations or broken homes
Loss of parent through death or divorce
Lack of emotional warmth (neglect)
Illness resulting in hospitalisation during early childhood
Parental depression or alcoholism
Confinement in residential institution
In response to the question of "who is likely to harm themselves?", a general answer would be that although certain characteristics may be common, it is impossible to say that one person is more likely to self-harm than another because people respond to different situations in different ways.
One thing to remember is that self-harm is not something that people do for attention. More often than not, people will go out of their way to hide their scars and they are likely to lie about how they got them. They will try their hardest to avoid being found out and will hide, or destroy, blood-stained clothing.
The most important thing is to realise that people who harm themselves are not trying to commit suicide. Many people who harm themselves may not have any suicidal thoughts at all, and use self-harm as a way of coping with different problems. On the other hand, many self-harmers may have attempted suicide in the past and now harm themselves as a way of controlling suicidal thoughts
Unfortunately there is no easy answer, as self-harm is a very complex behaviour which no-one fully understands.
Why do people self harm?
People often harm themselves because they can find no other way to relieve a feeling of being overwhelmed by intense emotions.
These emotions commonly fall into five groups:
Anger and frustration : Feeling so wound up and annoyed that you want to scream and shout. (in this case animals would claw at themselves).
Low self esteem (punishment) : Feeling so undervalued and low that you want to harm and feel you may even deserve it.
Dissociation : Feeling so overwhelmed by everything going on around, they want to escape or distract themselves by making a louder metaphorical noise.
Control and focus : Feeling that so much is out of your control that the only thing that you can control is the harm you inflict on yourself.
Self nurture : Feeling unreal and needing to harm to know you exist, or to help yourself heal.
Normally someone who is self harming will be able to identify at least one of these, if not more, as a reason for their behaviour.
5. Why do people continue self harming?
Once someone has found a way of coping, that both works and brings relief, it is a very daunting prospect to try relinquishing that way of coping in favour of another.
When someone cuts themselves, they send a rush of endorphins through the body, that travel to the wound sight to help heal it. The experience of this is described as being similar to being walked up on from behind and startled, and then taking a sudden intake of breath to recover from the fright: the relief of that breath feels similar to the buzz felt by harmers. This feeling is addictive and is considered as a chemical addiction, underlining why it can be difficult to stop harming.
6. How do you know if someone is self harming?
The short answer is you might not: it is a very secretive thing, and often purposefully hidden from others. A person is three times more likely to harm if they feel they lack emotional support, so those who are isolated, or feel isolated, may be more likely to harm. Those who find coping with the strains of life very difficult may also self harm.
How To Help
You must resist the temptation to step in and 'solve' the problem because healing can only be effective if the individual finds their own strengths and builds on them. What you can offer is support and encouragement.
Try not to get angry at them for harming themselves - This merely reinforces the self-disgust that they already feel and remember that he/she would stop if they could.
