What Is Self-Harm?

Self-harm is when someone deliberately hurts or injures him/herself. This can take a number of forms including:

• Cutting or burning – (these are the most common forms of self-harm)
• Taking overdoes of tablets or medicine
• Punching themselves or other objects i.e. walls, windows etc.
• Throwing their bodies against something
• Pulling out their hair, eyelashes, and sometimes teeth
• Scratching, picking or tearing at their skin causing sores and scarring
• Inhaling, sniffing or swallowing harmful substances
• Inserting objects into their bodies

Some young people self-harm on a regular basis while others do it just once or a few times. For some people it is part of coping with a specific problem and they stop one the problem is resolved. Other people self-harm for years whenever certain kinds of pressures or feelings arise.

Self-harm is not restricted to young people in fact it has no age restrictions and no certain type of person.

Each year there is an estimated 100,000 people who are referred to hospitals in England and Wales for self-harm, mainly because of drug overdoes or physical injury, and it is one of the top five causes of acute medical admissions in the UK. Shocking as these figures are, what they do not reveal is the number of people who self-harm without seeking medical help.