What is meant by self harm?
Psychiatry in DSM IV (TR) defines self injury as “The deliberate damaging of body tissue without the intent to end life”.
 For the person who is self harming it is a form of survival. It is an extreme expression of nonverbal communication. Many people who self harm are battling with feelings of shame and guilt both overtly and covertly. Sometimes the self harming will not be obvious to the outside world, at other times it is extremely visible resulting in outside intervention.
One of the greatest concerns for people who are involved with someone who self harms is the fear of suicide. Statistically speaking, people who self harm are more likely to end their life but there is no direct link between the two. Self harm sets itself apart from suicide in that it is a survival mechanism and not a precursor to suicide, therefore if that possibility exists it should be treated separately.
 There are those who think that self harming is a form of attention seeking and react to that. This is rarely the case, but treatment programs are very often inadvertently based on that assumption.
An alternative approach to caring for a person who self harms is to defocus on the actual self harm, this then opens the door to understanding of what lies behind. By taking control of their own situation the person who self harms will be able to see that they have other choices and this gives them a genuine possibility for recovery. Through empowerment comes healing.
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 There are many tools available to assist both the person who is self harming and those working with the self harmer in reaching these goals. Please contact me if you would like to learn more on how to work with self harm from a recovery perspective.
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