Self Harm: a Very Real Problem

For people who can't imagine deliberately harming themselves, self-harm may seem frightening.But self-harm is a way of expressing very deep emotional distress and often even the people who do this don't understand why they are doing it. People who self-harm typically are not suicidal, but they intentionally injure themselves as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions and stress. It usually indicates that somewhere in a person's development they didn't learn healthy ways to cope with these emotions and feelings. Self-harm can cover such actions as cutting, scratching or burning the skin, high risk behavior, abuse of alcohol or drugs or just not taking care of one's emotional or physical needs. It can have an eroding effect on a person's already depleted sense of self-worth and can cause a person to feel isolated and ashamed.

Many people are often perplexed by why a person would self-harm and mistakenly think that it's attention seeking behavior. But a person who self-harms has often gone through very difficult and traumatic events during childhood or early adulthood . Their confidence can be so eroded and emotions buried so deeply that self-harm is the only way they know to express their pain. The act of injuring can also cause a release of the body's natural opiates, which can then create a feeling a calm or mask emotions such as anger or sadness.

The reasons for why a person self-harms are many, but some of the reasons may include:

A continuation of abusive patterns

Communicating a need for support

Coping with feelings of isolation

Relieving anger or anxiety

Escape from feelings of unreality or depression

Maintaining a sense of control

Punishing oneself for being "bad"

Escaping from issues that are too painful to handle

Although people who self-harm are usually not suicidal, if left untreated they could possibly become suicidal eventually. Because a person who self-harms has such a poor sense of self-worth, over time these depressed feelings can evolve into suicide attempts. Also, it's possible for acts of self-harm to accidentally go too far and a life-threatening injury can occur.