To get help from or communicate to other people. Sometimes, people use self-harm because it is the only way they can communicate the pain they are experiencing to others. In fact, seeking help from others was the fourth most common reason for engaging in self-harm in one study (Miller & Fritzon, 2007). In the face of emotional turmoil, it can be hard to figure out how to ask for help. Also, sometimes dramatic or shocking behaviour like self-harm works quickly to get peoples’ attention and support. Indeed, some research shows that people who engage in self-harm actually have more difficulty actively solving problems, and may require more help from their social network. When people are desperate and don’t know how else to get help, they might resort to self-harm. This is not to say that people self-harm on purpose to get attention. Rather, the attention and support that people get once in a while when they self-harm can make them more likely to self-harm in the future. We are often unaware of the many things that influence our behaviour. Similarly, people who self-harm often don’t actively think, “I’m doing this to get help.” They may have never learned the skills they need to get help, and self-harm just happens to “work”.
Tags: communication, self-harm
