Self Harm

Strange as it may seem that for some, there is comfort to be gained through self harming. For those who do, it is a way of finding some sense of balance, a way of taking control of the anguish inside.

Self harming is a way of dealing with painful and distressing situations - MIND

Self harming is a way of expressing something that is difficult or seemingly impossible for people to express. For the most part self harming is because someone is unable to articulate their inner experience, so it becomes a way of externalising the internal despair, or emotional upheaval.

Self Harming

Doing harm to oneself is a way of dealing with unhappy aspects of life, things that are frightening or difficult within personal relationships, lovers, and friends and family. It can be a way of dealing with emotions that seem overwhelming like anger, sadness and anxieties and lack of confidence and so on. All of which may be eased to some degree by doing damage to oneself.

Visible self harming for example - cutting or self-mutilation of any kind, or doing drugs - are the more obvious methods. However smoking, abuse of alcohol and over-eating, although generally not considered as self-harming, are perhaps just more socially acceptable.

Suicide

Long term chronically heavy smokers, over use of alcohol and obesity will kill in one way or another. They are considered to be a slow way towards suicide, perhaps less shocking than an overdose, or slashing the wrists or inhaling carbon monoxide, but the results will be the same. The difference is the quick end. In suicide there is little fear of death, only a search for peace. However, self harming is a call for help or a seeking for some solution to the pain inside. For the heavy smoker, or the alcoholic, death may be feared but there is also a need to escape from the realities of life itself.

All are ways of trying to soothe the internal struggle with life.