What is self-harm?

Normally, self-harm is a term used to describe the act of inflicting pain or injury on oneself and is associated with cutting, burning or banging one’s head against walls.

However, it sometimes has a broader meaning and can be used to describe alcohol or drug abuse as well as attempted suicide.

At what age do people start self-harming?

Self-harming normally begins during teenage years but can start in childhood or adulthood.  

How common is self-harm?

About 1 in 10 young people have gone to see their GP or presented to hospital after self-harming. It is estimated that many more young people self-harm in private and never contact the NHS for help about it.

In a large study of adults in hospital who had self-harmed, 80% had hurt themselves by taking an overdose and around 15% had self-harmed by cutting.

Why do people self-harm?

People who self-harm are often trying to manage extreme distress or very difficult circumstances. The act of causing pain can give a sense of control and momentarily replace these feelings of distress with a different sensation.

Self-harm can also be used as a form of self-punishment.

Reasons for self-harm include:

• Feeling depressed
• Experiencing physical or sexual abuse
• Facing relationship problems with partners, friends, and family
• Being unemployed, or having difficulties at work

How can I stop self-harming, or help someone who self-harms?

The first step is to talk to someone about it. It doesn’t matter whether that person is a friend, a teacher or a GP. Sharing the load helps.

Other ways of dealing with the immediate need to self-harm include:

• Leaving an environment that makes a person feel like hurting themselves
• Distracting away from the feeling by going out for a walk or listening to music
• Using techniques such as squeezing ice cubes, flicking a hairband that they place around their wrist or drawing on their skin

The next step is to seek help from a professional therapist. Two well-known therapy approaches that help people that self-harm are CBT and counselling.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for people who self-harm

This structured type of counselling teaches specific skills to manage behaviour and change negative thinking patterns into positive ones.

Psychodynamic counselling for people who self-harm

This approach helps make sense of long-standing conflicts, allowing us to become more self-aware.