Cutting and Self-injury

Self-injury is the act of deliberately harming oneself, such as cutting or burning oneself. It is not necessarily meant as a suicide attempt but rather as an unhealthy way to cope with emotional pain, intense anger and frustration. Self-injury may initially result in a brief feeling of calm, but it is usually followed by guilt and the return of painful emotions.

Self-injury is a serious condition which can lead to serious harm or even death—accidental or intentional. Hurting oneself may be related to a variety of mental illnesses such as depression, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder. Self-injury is often kept secret, making the condition difficult to detect.

There are many types of self-injury that include severe scratching, cutting, burning, poisoning, carving words or symbols in the skin, breaking bones, hitting or punching oneself, piercing the skin with sharp objects, head banging, biting, pulling out hair, and interfering with wound healing. Self-injury can become a repetitive, addictive behavior that requires treatment.

Cutting and self-harm are often ways to express deep distress and cope with painful memories. And although you may want to stop, you may not know how to begin. Understanding why you self-harm can be a vital first step toward your recovery. If you can figure out what function your self-injury serves, you can learn other ways to get those needs met—which in turn can reduce your desire to hurt yourself. Once you better understand why you self-harm, you can learn ways to stop self-harming, and find resources that can support you through this struggle.

People do die from self-harm, but these instances are accidental. Such individuals don't want to die, they want to cope with painful situations. Those who self-harm are usually dealing with trauma, not mental health problems. There are exceptions, but by and large, they are probably trying to cope with problems in the only way they know how. Friends, family, and even healthcare professionals may think that if you hurt yourself, you are seeking attention, but the truth is that people who self-harm generally try to hide what they are doing—rather than draw attention to it—because they feel ashamed and afraid.

Q: What are some of the indicators of self-injury? How can such a person be identified?

A: Signs and symptoms may include scars, fresh cuts, broken bones, keeping sharp objects on hand, spending a lot of time alone, relationship troubles, wearing clothes that cover arms and legs even in warm weather, and claiming to have frequent accidents.

Q: Are people who self-injure trying to commit suicide?

A: Self-injury is a dangerous and unhealthy way for a person to cope with severe emotional issues, but not necessarily an attempt at suicide. Caron treats self-injury as a complex problem which requires individual therapy and family therapy. A physician at Caron can prescribe medication to treat an underlying depressive disorder and /or an anxiety disorder. We also can provide inpatient therapy which may be required for the safety of the patient while they are still actively hurting themselves.

Caron Treatment Centers do not have programs dedicated primarily to self-injury. If self-injurious behavior is exhibited as part of a primary chemical dependency, Caron has a dedicated psychologist on staff within each treatment unit to help with mental health issues such as self-injurious behaviors.