Although Self Harm awareness day has just gone. I thought to do a quick post about mental health needs regarding self harm.

Self Harm awareness day 2018 is celebrated to bring awareness to self injury or self harm. Not all self-harmers are in need of help, but if harming gets out of control, there needs to be adequate care and safety for sufferers. Friends, family and the self-harmers carer can also be affected, especially psychologically.

Self Harm or self injury awareness day usually runs on the 1st of March each year. Raising awareness about self harm can also help educate the public and lessen the stigma affecting those who self harm.

What causes self-harm?

There are many reasons why someone would self harm, not all reasons are simple and can become very complex.

Bereavement

Not all people suffer from mental illness from grieving a death of someone close, but then death affects everyone differently. A sudden bereavement can cause someone to self harm because they cannot cope with the loss and use self harm to deal with such loss.

Being seriously ill

Other illnesses can lead to self harming, especially when the person might be unhappy how their life is heading, they may hate themselves or how they feel and could take self harming out on themselves

Bullying

Bullying can damage someone physically and also psychologically, if nothing is done to combat bullying then the victim might lead to self harming in order to cope.

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Discrimination

Quite similar to bullying, many who recieve discrimination could self harm due to isolation, stigma or being misunderstood.

Domestic violence

Those suffering under domestic violence might see no other way hate and see themselves as to blame from being attacked by their partner, if nothing is there to stop the violence then its possible self harm could lead to suicide or accidental death.

Drug and alcohol misuse

Addiction regarding drug and alcohol use can being a person high, but when the effects wears off, then self harm might become apparent as a way of coping during the lows.

Family breakdown and conflict

Not all families are alike especially on how families can deal with conflict. Family breakdowns can affect the adults as well as the children. Self harm can lead to children using it as a coping method especially if they cannot cope with the negative feelings.

Feelings of rejection

Constant or sudden rejection can possibly need to self harming as a way to cope and forget about rejection, either from a girl/boyfriend or from someone close. Self harm might be a way for the person to hate themselves.

Isolation and loneliness

Some people can actually cope with isolation and loneliness, but this can vary due to having close friends and family only for them to move on and not being able to form new relations. Some self-harmers may use self harm as a coping mechanism.

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Low self-esteem

Low self-esteem and self worth can also be the cause of self harming where the person loathes themselves and ends up taking out physical harm against themselves.

Money worries

Money worries is another common cause of self harm, especially when money issues spiral out of control. This can lead to the person finding themselves trapped and having self harm as a form of release.

Poor body image

Self harmers may cause damage due to how they feel about their bodies, this can lead to a spiral downfall as someone might hate noticing the physical brusies on themselves from self harming and in turn self harm again.

Relationship problems

Again, not all relationships are alike. Some relationships come with complex emotions dealing with complex issues, failure to secure a difficult relationship can sometimes lead to self harm.

Work pressures

One of the common causes of self harm, we all spend a large majority of time at work and when work pressures amount without adequate support, self harm can become apparent.

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Please take time to check out organisations listed below if any of the above items affects you.

Self Harm UK – https://www.selfharm.co.uk/
Harmless – email info@harmless.org.uk
Samaritans – call 116 123
LifeSIGNS – http://www.lifesigns.org.uk
National Self Harm Network – http://www.nshn.co.uk
PAPYRUS – http://www.papyrus-uk.org
Recover Your Life – http://www.recoveryourlife.com