Self-Injury Awareness Day
Did you know that 1st March 2021 is Self-Injury Awareness Day (SIAD)? What do you know about self-harm? Could you know more?
Self-Injury Awareness Day is designed to help raise awareness of self-injury and harm. Self-injury/self-harm is more common than you might realise. It affects people of all ages, sexualities, races, cultures and religions. TV and film tend to stereotype this as a problem with teenaged girls, but this is very misleading. If you take nothing else from reading this, it should be that self-injury or harm can affect anyone.
We all have ways to cope with an upset. For many of us, we find a way to express it, perhaps seek help and resolve the distress. But for some, self-harm is a coping mechanism used to handle extreme emotional distress. Put simply, for some people it’s easier to deal with physical pain than emotional pain.
Types of Self Harm
There are many ways to self-injury. The most common is cutting or burning a body part – usually the arms and legs. But there are more subtle forms of self-harm such as alcohol or drug abuse. So, how do I know if I am self-harming? Well, if you are deliberately hurting yourself to relieve tension or distress, punish yourself or to cope with how you are feeling then it is self-harm and you should seek help to find a healthier way to cope.
Some people may only self-injure once, to experiment, perhaps. Some people might self-injure several times, but manage to overcome the issues or get help before things get out of control. It is important to seek help before self-injury becomes a habit or a default response.
Self-harm can be an insidious issue to have. Firstly, you are struggling to deal with an emotionally distressing event and this comes out in the form of self-injury. Then, once you have self-harmed, this can cause embarrassment, shame and reluctance to seek help for the injury and the underlying causes. If this is you or someone you know, then seek help.
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To find out more about Self-Injury Awareness Day click here.
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