Self Injury Awareness Day

 

Today is Self Injury Awareness Day. I want to send out hope and love to everyone. I hope you can feel less alone. Others care about you.

 

• Self-injury is a coping mechanism that people use to deal with emotional distress.

• People use many different ways to injure themselves, for instance cutting, burning and taking overdoses without suicidal intent. Not all self-injury results in physical scars.

• People self-injure for different reasons and these reasons can change over time.

• The physical severity of the injury does not usually relate to the amount of emotional distress that a person is in, although an individual’s self-injury can become worse over time.

• Self-injury can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, religion, race and culture. Self-injury is NOT something which only affects teenaged girls.

• Self-injury can also be called other things like ‘self-harm’, although self-harm is often seen as a more broad term (for instance including alcohol abuse and eating disorders). It is best to avoid using the term ‘self-mutilation’ as this can be offensive.

• Self-injury is not a diagnosis, but it can be a symptom of an underlying mental health problem such as depression.

• Self-injury is NOT suicidal behaviour. While some people who self-injure might go on to attempt suicide, it is emotional distress which leads to suicide, not self-injury. In fact for some people self-injury can be seen as the opposite of a suicide attempt since it is a survival strategy.

• People can not just stop self-injuring until they have alternative coping mechanisms in place. The road to recovery can be a very long and difficult one, and telling someone to stop self-injuring or asking them to make promises will most likely make things worse.

• All people who self-injure deserve to be treated with respect and compassion. They are not attention-seekers, and should be treated as any other person.

• There is help available for people who self-injure. One place to get help is an online support forum where people can talk to others who self-injure and offer support while looking for more positive ways to deal with emotional distress. A well moderated forum can be found here - http://www.scar-tissue.net (and an increasing amount of information related to self-injury can also be found here). It is important to be careful online as there are some dangerous sites on the Internet for instance those where people share pictures of injuries.

Thank you for calling attention to this, Mitsuki. Self injury, along with depression and other mental and emotional health issues that often accompany it is so poorly understood. Also, the stigmas attached can make it feel impossible for those affected to talk about it. While I am sure that there are a few people out there who self injure (or claim to) in order to get attention or so somehow seem "cool", for many people it is a very real coping mechanism, that they feel that they can't not do in order to stay alive. Also, all too often this is ignored as just a "phase" that the person will grow out of. In actuality, unless the underlying issues are recognized and either dealt with, or another reliable coping mechanism substituted, this can last well into adulthood and beyond.

 

At the same time, finding that someone is engaging in self injury is not necessarily cause for panic, either. Most who engage in this behavior do so because they are trying to stay alive. They frequently do research into the safest methods and try to do the best they can to avoid infections and other secondary harm.

 

The best advice I can give is that this is not something to ignore or brush off, but is also not something to ore-react to either. This is almost always a symptom of something much deeper. Try to help the person find a way to treat the underlying cause, and don't just try to force them to end these behaviors until either the root problems are being treated or another, working, mechanism is in place. Try to learn as much as you can about both self-injury and whatever mental/emotional illnesses that are discovered to be contributing to it (the link in Mitsuki's post is a good place to start). Until then, just offer your support, and try to help them remain as safe as possible, even if that means keeping plenty of Neosporin and sanitizer on-hand and gently encourage them to find another way of dealing with things. Also, let them feel like they can talk to you without fear of being laughed at or judged and without feeling like they have to constantly defend themselves. Finally, remember that it is almost never your fault. mental illness is usually a medical problem caused by imbalances of chemicals within the brain or MAJOR trauma (far more than a loving parent of good friend is likely to have inflicted).

 

Sorry for the long post on a depressing topic. This is just an issue that has frequently been close to me, as my (large) family has a lot of history with mental and emotional illnesses.

 

Disclaimer, I am not a doctor, nor am I a licensed mental-health professional. I am just somebody who has dealt very closely with many people with a wide range of issues. None of my advice should be given nearly the same weight as your medical providers, this is simply based on my own experiences and what has worked best for me and my family and friends. Please be sure to consult with a professional before taking any major actions.

Whenever I did the "View new posts" I did not ever see mitsuki's post... I only saw it now that Ravendruid replied. >__< I'm glad I saw it though.

 

I used to self-harm whenever I was in my teenage years. I've had depression for a long time, still have it now, but I grew out of abusing myself physically... Sometimes I still want to. It's nice to know that it is recognized and that there is a day specifically for making awareness. I honestly did not know this, or ever hear of it! It also makes me happy that fellow DD collectors care about this issue enough to post about it on the forums.

 

Ravendruid you have very good insight into self-harm and a lot of great advice for people who may not know how to deal with it. ^__^

 

Thanks mitsuki for posting this here, I feel it's very important!

You guys are great! Thank you for your comments. It's a complex topic. The only thing I can say for sure is that you guys are so precious. Hard times are inevitable but I hope you know there are people who care. It's hard to remember that sometimes though. But you are irreplaceable and precious.

 

I didn't know there was an official day for it until last year when Gerard did an awareness/support event last May. He said to make a Parmesan sandwich instead and called it "Self Parm Day." I appreciate him reaching out like that. Looking around I noticed there was an awareness day (without sandwiches haha). It is more common than most people think.