Self Injury (SI)

Last updated 29 Jul 2010

Self-injury is a way of expressing very deep distress. Often, people don’t know why they self-injure. It’s a means of communicating what can’t be put into words or even into thoughts and has been described as an inner scream. Afterwards, people feel better able to cope with life again, for a while.

Self-injury is a broad term. People may injure or poison themselves by scratching, cutting or burning their skin, by hitting themselves against objects, taking a drug overdose, or swallowing or putting other things inside themselves. It may also take less obvious forms, including taking stupid risks, staying in an abusive relationship, developing an eating problem, such as anorexia or bulimia, being addicted to alcohol or drugs, or simply not looking after their own emotional or physical needs.

Advice for those engaging in self injury:

  • The single most important thing to remember is that you have choices: stopping self-injury can begin now.
  • Knowledge is power. Gather as much information as possible about your own behaviour. Keep notes of what is going on when you feel the need to harm yourself, so that you can identify, over a period of time, specific thoughts which come up. It’s also useful to keep a daily diary of events and feelings, and to record how you cope with or channel powerful emotions of anger, pain or happiness.
  • Try to talk about your feelings with someone supportive. Even though you may feel you are alone, there are others who can understand your pain and help to boost your strength and courage.
  • Work on building up your self-esteem. Remember you are not to blame for how you feel; your self-injury is an expression of powerful negative feelings. It’s not your fault. Make lists of your feelings, and then write positive statements about yourself, or the world around you
  • Try to find ways to make your life less stressful, give yourself occasional treats, eat healthily, get plenty of sleep and build physical activity into your life, because this is known to boost self-esteem and lift low moods.
  • Have the telephone numbers of friends, or local and national helplines where you can find them easily, if you need to talk to somebody in a crisis.
  • If you feel the need to self-harm, focus on staying within safe limits. A supportive GP will give you good advice on minimising and caring for your injuries and help you to find further help.

What help can I get?

Talking to a GP is highly recommended course of action.
National Self-harm Network (NHSN)
PO Box 7264, Nottingham NG1 6WJ
www.nshn.co.uk

Survivor-led organisation supporting those who self-harm
Samaritans
The Upper Mill, Kingston Road, Ewell, Surrey KT17 2AF
tel. 09457 90 90 90, web:

www.samaritans.org.uk

24-hour emergency helpline
Survivors UK
PO Box 2470, London SW9 6WQ
helpline: 0845 122 1201, web:

www.survivorsuk.org.uk