{"id":13533,"date":"2024-05-06T19:55:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mind.se\/?page_id=13533"},"modified":"2025-01-06T14:26:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T13:26:50","slug":"self-harming","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/facts-about-mental-health-and-wellbeing\/self-harming\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-harming\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Self-harming <\/h1>

Self-harming is often a way of coping with strong, painful emotions. It can also be a way to take your mind off serious events in your life.\u202fIf you harm yourself, although it may feel like a relief in the moment, it can also make you feel even worse. In the long run, it can also be bad for various reasons. This makes it a good idea to talk to someone and to get help. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\t<\/article>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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What is self-harming?<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re self-harming, you\u2019re deliberately hurting yourself physically. You might scratch, cut, burn or hit yourself. You may also be exposing yourself to risks or overdosing on harmful substances, such as prescription medicines, alcohol or drugs.<\/p>\n

This encompasses people of all ages and genders.<\/p>\n

Going through challenging times in life or experiencing something difficult can trigger this behaviour.<\/p>\n

How does it affect your life?<\/h2>\n

Self-harming can be a way of coping with feelings such as anxiety, stress, grief, despair, self-hatred and emptiness. It can also be a way to calm or punish yourself, or to avoid thinking about painful memories and unpleasant experiences. For some, it\u2019s a way to at least feel something. For others, it\u2019s a way to show people around them how they actually feel inside. It\u2019s common to have critical thoughts about yourself when self-harming.<\/p>\n

Initially, you may feel that hurting yourself makes it easier to deal with difficult things in life. As though the pain on the outside stops you from feeling the pain on the inside quite as much. Afterwards, however, the troubling thoughts may worsen, you may feel ashamed and your self-critical thoughts may worsen. All of this can cause you to harm yourself even more, putting yourself at even greater risk.<\/p>\n

No matter how long you\u2019ve been self-harming, it\u2019s important to take your problem seriously. Help is available and you can improve your wellbeing.<\/p>\n

What help can I get?<\/h2>\n

You can talk to someone close that you trust. If you\u2019re at school, you could talk to the school nurse or school counsellor, for example. If you\u2019re an adult, you can contact your healthcare centre or a psychiatric clinic for help.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re feeling so low that you\u2019re considering taking your own life, don\u2019t delay, seek immediate medical attention at a psychiatric emergency clinic or call 112.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by:<\/strong> Johan Bjureberg, registered psychologist, associate professor of clinical neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.<\/p>\n

Last edited 2024-04-08<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":16930,"featured_media":8745,"parent":13346,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Self-harming is often a way of coping with strong, painful emotions. If you harm yourself, although it may feel like a relief in the moment, it can also make you feel even worse.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13533","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13536,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13533\/revisions\/13536"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mind.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}