FACT

Self-Harm isn’t necessarily about suicide.  Sometimes people hurt themselves because they want to die.  But it’s often more about staying alive.  People may hurt themselves to help them get through bad times.  It’s a way to cope because it’s a way to externalize emotional pain and get temporary relief from it.

FACT

There are many ways for people to harm themselves.  Some people cut themselves.  Others hit or bruise or bang themselves.  Yet others use burning, hair-pulling, biting, scratching or drug or alcohol abuse.  It’s not all about physical harm though.  Overeating, starving, smoking, excessive risk-taking, and obsessive-compulsive behaviours such as work-a-holism or over-exercising are also ways people harm themselves to some degree in order to cope with emotional pain.

FACT

It isn’t ‘just attention seeking behaviour’.  People hurt themselves because they are in pain and trying to cope.  It’s a way of externalizing what is wrong inside and they need to be taken seriously.

FACT

You aren’t the only one who hurts yourself.  Thousands of people harm themselves in some way to relieve internal pressure.  There’s a lot of secrecy, ignorance and lack of understanding surrounding the whole issue (especially around physical mutilation), though, so it may be that you’ve never met anyone else who admits to doing it too.

FACT

It doesn’t mean you’re ‘insane’ or ‘mad’.  Hurting yourself physically is just a sign that you are hurting inside.  There are people at all levels of society and from all walks of life who self-harm.

FACT

It can happen once, or many times.  Some people hurt themselves or attempt suicide only once or twice.  Others hurt themselves as a way to cope over long periods of time with varying episodes of frequency and intensity depending on how their lives are going.