Hope for Self-Harm Behaviors
Self-injury, also called self-harm, is the act of deliberately harming your own body, such as cutting, hitting or burning yourself. It’s typically not meant as a suicide attempt. Rather, self-injury is an unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration.
While self-injury may bring a momentary sense of calm and a release of tension, it’s usually followed by guilt and shame and the return of painful emotions. And with self-injury comes the possibility of more serious and even fatal self-aggressive actions.
Because self-injury is often done impulsively, it can be considered an impulse-control behavior problem. Self-injury may be linked to a variety of mental disorders, such as depression, eating disorders and borderline personality disorder.
If you’re injuring yourself, even in a minor way, or if you have thoughts of harming yourself, reach out for help. Any form of self-injury is a sign of larger issues that need to be addressed.
When a Friend or Loved One is Hurting Themselves
If you have a friend or loved one who is self-injuring, you may be shocked and scared. Take all talk of self-injury seriously. Although you might feel that you’d be betraying a confidence, self-injury is too big a problem to ignore or to deal with alone.
Get the Support You Need
The experienced therapists at the Body Image Therapy Center are in recovery themselves, so they know what it’s like to have underlying anger, self-esteem or other issues that lead to destructive behaviors. We help you learn coping skills to deal with your anger and frustration in less self-destructive ways.
Call the Body Image Therapy Center with offices in Central Maryland & DC at (240) 722-1014 today or CLICK HERE to contact our Intake Coordinator.
