--- title: "The Act of Self-Harm" description: "Self-harm refers to behaviour where an individual inflicts harm on themselves. However, it’s important to note that it’s not a suicide attempt, or attention-seeking in any way. What..." url: https://zwavelstreamclinic.co.za/the-act-of-self-harm/ date: 2019-04-09 modified: 2024-04-20 author: "root" image: https://zwavelstreamclinic.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Self-harm.jpg categories: ["Article", "Blogs/Articles"] tags: ["What Self-Harm Looks Like"] type: post lang: en --- # The Act of Self-Harm Self-harm refers to behaviour where an individual **inflicts harm** on themselves. However, it’s important to note that it’s not a suicide attempt, or attention-seeking in any way. What this behaviour means instead, is that the person is struggling with overwhelming and distressing thoughts or emotions. Turning to high-risk behaviours or causing injury to their bodies is their way of coping with their problems. This is because the **pain inflicted** might bring temporary relief from the emotional pain they are experiencing. But because the relief is temporary, they fall into a cycle of harming as they continue to seek that feeling of release. As disturbing as it may sound, this behaviour is rather common. It’s believed that 10-20% of young people use self-harm as a coping mechanism. What’s more, there is no typical candidate for this behaviour. It can affect anyone, and sometimes emerges from as young as 12 years old. ### What Self-Harm Looks Like The most common form of self-harm is cutting – on the arms, wrists, thighs, and stomach. However, there are many **other ways** in which a young person can inflict pain on themselves. For example, severely scratching until they bleed, or banging themselves against objects (or punching things) until bruising/bleeding occurs. Additionally, a high number of **self-harm** cases have reports of burning, ripped or carved skin, and also pulling out of hair before ingesting it. An important thing to note is that as many as 70% of people who self-harm use more than one of the above methods to hurt themselves. ### Debunking the Myths Since there is so little understanding about self-harm, several myths exist about the **condition**. For starters, many people assume that those who self-harm are looking for attention. And one of the biggest **negative stereotypes** associated with self-harm is that it’s part of a goth culture. In other words, kids are doing it to keep up with a fad. These beliefs are dangerous in that they lead people to dismiss the situation instead of providing much-needed help and support. So what do you need to look out for? ***These are some signs of self-harm:*** --- ● Scars on the body parts mentioned previously ● Fresh cuts, bite marks, or bruises ● Excessive rubbing, scratching, or pinching ● Always wearing long sleeved shirts and pants (to hide scars) ● Emotional and behavioural instability, like reckless impulsiveness ● Expressing hopelessness, low self-esteem, or helplessness --- ### Reach Out For Support One or any combination of the symptoms mentioned above could point to self-harm. And the most important take-away from this is to know that ignorance is very seldom bliss. Intervention is critical if you are to learn how to cope with life’s stresses in a healthy way. At** ZwavelStream Clinic** we have a team of professionals who specialize in the treatment of people experiencing deep emotional pain. So if you or someone you know needs help with self-harm, please (https://zwavelstreamclinic.co.za/contact/) immediately.