What is self-harm?
Self-harm (or self-injury) is a behaviour where someone hurts or injures themselves on purpose. People who self-harm are not necessarily trying to kill themselves; usually they are just trying to cope with life.
Some people engage in self-harm regularly, others just a few times in their life. For some people, self-harm is a form of coping with a problem and when the problem goes away, so does the self-harming behaviour. People who self-harm are usually well aware that it won’t make their problems go away, even if they do it in response to their problems.
Examples of self-harming behaviour include: burning, hitting yourself, preventing sores or scabs from healing (scratching or picking), pulling out hair and cutting.
What self-harm is not
- proof that someone is “crazy”
- a phase that will go away on its own
- manipulative behaviour that should be ignored
- proof that someone was abused
- repeated suicide attempts