Self-harm
Please contact Airevalley Counselling & Therapy if you would like to discuss counselling for issues to do with self harm.
Self-harm is the deliberate physical harming of a person’s own body. This can be done in a variety of ways including:-
- Cutting
- Burning
- Scalding
- Scratching
- Hair pulling
- Bruising
- Inserting objects
- Ingesting toxic substances
Why do people self-harm?
Self-harming behaviour is an expression of underlying mental or emotional distress. Often people may feel that they have no other way of coping with the pressures in their lives. People who self-harm may have low self-esteem, feel isolated, pressured at work or study, be bullied, have family problems or a history of physical or sexual abuse. People may often have another mental health issue to deal with, and conditions such as eating disorders or substance abuse frequently co-exist with self-harming behaviour. There are many reasons why people may self-harm, including:
- To distract from emotional pain
- To punish themselves
- To relieve tension or stress
- To communicate their distress to other people
- To take control when they feel powerless
- To feel real if they are feeling numb or remote from the world around them
- To nurture themselves through caring for their wounds
Is self-harm the same as suicide?
People who self-harm do often have suicidal feelings, but this must not be assumed. In some instances the intent of self-harming is to inflict the least possible amount of damage, and as such can be seen as an exercise in self-restraint or damage limitation. Self-harm may be a survival strategy for someone who does feel suicidal, enabling them to have some form of release for their distress and helping them get through a period of suicidal or other very distressing feelings.
What treatments are available?
Many people who self-harm find it difficult or embarrassing to talk about. People often try to hide the fact they self-harm and may be very reluctant to seek medical treatment for the physical harm, or psychological treatment for the behaviour itself. Sometimes people are reluctant to seek medical treatment for their injuries because of unsympathetic reactions they have received from medical staff in the past. Most people seeking help would initially access services via their GP or their local accident and emergency service. Some people may then be referred to a psychiatrist or a member of the local Community Mental Health Team for more specialised help. Depending on your symptoms, the severity of the condition, and your circumstances, the doctor may suggest medication, some form of talking treatment or a combination of both.
Talking Treatments
Talking treatments alone can be effective in tackling self-harm for some people, for others a combination of talking treatments and anti-depressant drugs may be most effective. Talking treatments aim to help people recognise the stress factors in their lives and work out coping strategies in order to be able to deal with these.
A wide variety of talking treatments are available, ranging from counselling and psychotherapy to dialectic behaviour therapy (DBT). A referral for talking treatments can be arranged by your doctor. However, frequently there are long waiting lists for these types of treatment on the NHS. Free or low-cost counselling is also provided by a number of charities and voluntary organisations and, for those who can afford to pay, there are many private practitioners.
Funded by Bradford and Airedale NHS Primary Care Trust. Registered Charity Number 1063666 (Versa). Comany Number 3380593 (Versa Organisation Ltd). Company Number 7635210 (Airevalley Counselling & Therapy C.I.C).
Organisational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.