Self Harm

Introduction

Hi my name is Nicola and I started self harming when I was 13 years old.

This website if for people who self harm & want help & support and also for people who knows someone who self harms & wants some advise and information on self harming. There is also a place were you can relax and a page with peoples poems and story’s.

Self Harm is a harmful act done to yourself. Do not mistake lashing out in anger at others as Self Harm. Self Harm is only done by yourself. If anyone else does something to you that causes pain this is not Self Harm.

An act of Self harm must include some sort of physical violence. Emotionally punishing yourself (calling yourself a bitch or thinking you're stupid, ugly, etc.) is not Self Harming.

An act of Self Harm is not done with the intention of killing yourself. People who cut their wrists to kill themselves, even though they have harmed their body, are not Self Harming.

Self Harm is done intentionally. Not accidentally, but with the intent purpose of hurting yourself.

Self harm is for some people a way of coping. Most Self Harmers have clinical or undiagnosed mental health problems. Self Harming helps them to cope by :

• Releasing intense feelings/emotions
• Physically expressing pain
• Self-punishment
• Establishing control

Many people who self harm keep it a secret because they feel like they are crazy, insane and evil. They fear if they tell anyone, they might be locked away forever. The truth is, people who intentionally harm are in fact very normal and sane people, who are in a lot of emotional pain. They self harm as a way to cope, because they were probably never taught how to deal with intense feelings and emotions in healthy ways. Unfortunately, when people hear about this form of self-harm, they do tend to place labels on these people as being psychotic and crazy, which is why so many people do not come forward and ask for help. Until society knows the full story and understands it, sufferers will continue to keep quiet and this form of abuse will continue to be a secret for a long time to come.

people who do self harm try and hide what they have done and really don’t want people to know what they have done, however there are some people who only do it to get attention, but I must stress that it is not always the case.

self harming is a way of turning mental pain into physical pain so no it is nothing to do with suicide

People who self harm tend do it to punish themselves and would never go and harm others around them

You can beat this! it will be hard, but it can be done.

here is some steps you may find useful to be able to stop

• decide you want to stop, making sure you are the main reason and not anyone else
• Make a list of people that you can call if you need them either friends family or a help line
• Try and be positive
• Finding the triggers (the things that make you want to self harm)
• Try and reduce the stress in your life that will help to reduce the wanting to self harm

If you think that you need some professional help then you can always go and see your GP as s/he will be able to offer you help and advice

Self harming is a hard thing to get through but it can be done. don’t beat yourself up if you do relapse just try and think about how long you haven’t self harmed for and try and be positive and start over.

Heres some things you could try to do that I used to help me stop self harming. Some sound silly but give them a couple of goes to see if they can help you.

• Talking about how you feel either friend, family or help line
• Draw or write about how you feel
• Scribble in red on a bit of paper
• Cut into a apple or something similar
• Put an elastic band or hair tie around your wrist and pull it when you feel the need to self harm
• Go for a walk to clear your head or another sort of exercise
• Scream into a pillow or punch and kick it

These Help lines and website are not only for self harming they are also for different health problems just click on the link and it will take you to there page.