Self Injury in Depression and Abuse
Self injury is a very real problem for people who are depressed or a sexual abuse survivor.
It is a very unhealthy way to cope with what is happening in your life at this moment .
Self injury is also called self harm or self mutilation. It is defined as an intentional injury to one's own body.
When you self injury it usually leaves marks on your body and can cause tissue damage.
The types of self injury are:
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Hitting with hammer or other object
- Bone-breaking
- Self Injury Cutting
- Picking a your skin
- Burning
- Re-open old wounds
- Hair-pulling
- Head-banging
People who cause self injury do the injury alone and try to hide the injury from others. I did this.
At first people could see what I was doing than I started hiding it from people. The only person I told about the self injury was my doctor or therapist.
Self injury usually happens because people feel it is a release of the overwhelming or distressing feelings they are having. Also, some people who self injured do it as punishment of themselves. They may hate themselves.
Self injury is not considered suicidal behavior. The symptoms of self injury are:
- Frequent cuts and burns that cannot be explained
- Self punching or scratching
- Needle sticking
- Head banging
- Eye pressing
- Finger or arm biting
- Pulling out hair on any part of the body
- Picking at your skin
If you notice someone doing the following they may be taking part in self injury.
- Wearing pants and long sleeves in warm weather
- Low self-esteem
- Difficulty handling feelings
- Relationship problems
- Poor functioning at work, school or home
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I know from personal experience that it is almost impossible to help yourself stop engaging in self injury behavior.
There are treatments for this type of behavior. You can be helped, I was!