summer1412
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- Posted: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:04:50 +0000
*>Self Harm Misconceptions & Facts<*
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~*Here you will find some useful information about self harm, and the misconceptions that are perpetuating the problem. If you have any info that you would like to share, please let me know.*~
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~*Here you will find some useful information about self harm, and the misconceptions that are perpetuating the problem. If you have any info that you would like to share, please let me know.*~
.::.
Self-harming is attention-seeking
Stripping naked and running down the high street would be attention-seeking, but self-harming is more often very private and personal. People who self-harm often go to great lengths to cover up their injuries. The attention that self-harming does bring is often negative and doesn't help to relieve distress. Positive attention such as lending an ear and listening can help somebody who is experiencing distress and dealing with the pressures of everyday life.
People who self-harm are suicidal
People who self-harm aren't usually trying to kill themselves. For many it's a coping mechanism used to survive - not die. Just because you self-harm, it doesn't mean you are suffering from a severe mental illness, either. Although there is a relationship between self-harm and suicide, many more people self-harm than kill themselves - it's the feelings behind the stress they want to get rid of.
People who self-harm aren't usually trying to kill themselves. For many it's a coping mechanism used to survive - not die. Just because you self-harm, it doesn't mean you are suffering from a severe mental illness, either. Although there is a relationship between self-harm and suicide, many more people self-harm than kill themselves - it's the feelings behind the stress they want to get rid of.
People who self-harm could stop if they wanted to
Self-harm can become a habitual or addictive behaviour for some people. Telling somebody to "just stop it" will not work and could possibly alienate them further. They need help and understanding to recover and learn other strategies for coping with emotional pain and stressful situations.
Self-harm is when you cut yourself
Cutting is only one form of self-harm and although it's one of the most common reported forms, there are other ways that people may hurt themselves intentionally. This might be eating disorders, hair pulling, head banging, hitting, scratching, burning, and purposely overdosing. Drug, alcohol, or sexual addictions have also been referred to as self-harm.
Self-harm is usually a failed suicide attempt
This myth persists despite a wealth of studies showing that, although people who self-injure may be at a higher risk of suicide than others, they distinguish between acts of self-harm and attempted suicide. Many, if not most, self-injuring people who make a suicide attempt use means that are completely different to their preferred methods of self-inflicted violence.
People who self-injure are crazy and should be locked up
Tracy Alderman, Ph.D., author of The Scarred Soul, addressed this:
"Fear can lead to dangerous overreactions. In dealing with clients who hurt themselves, you will probably feel fear. . . . Hospitalizing clients for self-inflicted violence is one such form of overreaction. Many therapists, because they do not possess an adequate understanding of SIV (self-inflicted violence), will use extreme measures to assure (they think) their clients' best interests. However, few people who self-injure need to be hospitalized or institutionalized. The vast majority of self-inflicted wounds are neither life threatening nor require medical treatment. Hospitalizing a client involuntarily for these issues can be damaging in several ways. Because SIV is closely related to feelings of lack of control and overwhelming emotional states, placing someone in a setting that by its nature evokes these feelings is very likely to make matters worse, and may lead to an incident of SIV. In addition, involuntary hospitalization often affects the therapeutic relationship in negative ways, eroding trust, communication, rapport, and honesty. Caution should be used when assessing a client's level of threat to self or others. In most cases, SIV is not life threatening. . . . Because SIV is so misunderstood, clinicians often overreact and provide treatment that is contraindicated."
In 2008 Affinity Healthcare suggested that rates of self-harm in young people could be as high as 33%
In a study of undergraduate students in the United States, 9.8% of the students surveyed indicated that they had purposefully cut or burned themselves on at least one occasion in the past. When the definition of self-harm was expanded to include head-banging, scratching oneself, and hitting oneself along with cutting and burning, 32% of the sample said they had done this.
About three million people in the U.S. are self-injurers and approximately 1% of the population has inflicted physical injury upon themselves at some time in their life as a way to cope with an overwhelming situation or feeling. Those numbers are most likely an underestimation because the majority of acts of self-injury go unreported. In other parts of the world the numbers are considerably higher.
90% of self injurers begin as children. This behavior can continue well into adulthood.
More than half of self injurers are victims of emotional/sexual abuse or neglictful childhoods, or have undergone severe psychologically and emotionally traumatic experiences.
Self injury is prevalent in all races, religions, and economic backgrounds. There is no cookie-cutter mold for self injury.
Although most self injurers are women, recent studies show that up to 40% are men.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia, SelfInjury.org & TheSite.org
