Self Injury Awareness Day

http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-1st-is-self-injury-awareness-day.html

My friend Faycin A Croud shared this information. I kept the picture because it looks something like a young me. I have been self-harming for as long as I can remember. I used to hit myself as a child. I started cutting in my teens.

People who SI are often trying to:

* Distract emotional pain

* End feelings of numbness

* Calm overwhelming feelings

* Maintaining control

* Self-punish

* Express thoughts that cannot be put into words

* Express feelings for which there are no words

What are the types of self-injury?

* Cutting

* Burning

* Picking at skin

* Interfering with wound healing

* Hair-pulling

* Hitting

* Scratching

* Pinching

* Biting

* Bone-breaking

* Head-banging

It enrages me when people say that those who self-harm are merely engaging in "attention seeking behavior." Indirectly, I suppose that's true. It was a cry for help in my case. But first and foremost it was an attempt to defuse overwhelming feelings and replace emotional pain with physical pain. Sometimes it was also self-punishment.

Self-harm is a complex issue. I am glad there is a day dedicated to educating people about it.