Self Harm
Anything you may do, that may cause harm. It maybe something that damages your body, not taking care of yourself, such as neglect or sabotaging yourself are all types of self-harm.
You may not think acting in a certain way or doing a particular thing may be self-harm, but from purposefully not drinking enough water to pulling your own hair, but these things are self-harm and many things can count as self-harm too. (It’s not just cutting yourself)
People self-harm in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons and it is not always because you want some relief. Some people self-harm because they think they deserve it and need to be punished and others want to change emotional pain into physical pain.
Examples of different types of self-harm
Physical – Ranging from scratching to cutting and even overdosing, but also includes food related self-harm such as overeating or restricting how much you eat.
Psychological – This includes self-neglect, sabotaging relationships or obsessively thinking negatively about yourself.
Causes
Like eating disorders, a lot of the time self-harm is a way of feeling in control and acts as a way of avoiding and distracting yourself certain emotions and feelings.
If you think you are in immediate danger please visit our help right now page
It’s important to be aware of the self-harming behaviours you use because sometimes you may feel you’ve stopped using one but may have started using a different harmful coping mechanism instead. How we go about trying to help you replace your damaging coping mechanism with a healthy coping mechanism is what is most crucial.
Ask yourself the pros and cons of Self harm vs the pros and cons of say something that is both calming and physical such as swimming… it should become quickly apparent which is going to help you in a much more substantial way and prolonged way.
We have created a page all about different coping mechanisms and why they might help so click below to see