Self injury is a very complicated. Self injury – self harm – self destruction – self mutilation – there’s more than one name to call it. There’s never any one reason for why it happens, and no quick and easy answers for how to make it stop. Everyone’s reasons for self injury are uniquely his/her own. The triggers, the injury patterns, and the types of harm done are different for every person.

However, self injury can be stopped.

It absolutely can stop.

You really and truly can figure out how to stop it.

Don’t give up hope, and don’t assume you are doomed to a life of death-defying self harm. You do not have to keep hurting yourself. You can learn to cope in other ways. You can gain control over your emotions, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and compulsions.

The process of unraveling the powerful patterns of self injury takes time. It does not happen overnight, and there are typically many ongoing struggles with self injury before the behavior actually stops.

Chronic feelings of suicidal ideation -- feelings of wanting to die -- or of wanting to self injure become a state of daily existence for many trauma survivors. This is particularly true for those in the earlier stages of their healing. It MAY OR MAY NOT mean that the survivor is in imminent life-threatening danger every day. It can certainly mean that they FEEL like hurting themselves a lot of the time.

There is definitely a giant continuum for the actual acting on self injurious feelings. Some self harm is relatively minor, needs next to no first aid care at all, leaves no scars, and is barely noticeable. However, at the other end, some self harm can cause immediate death, or require immediate in-hospital medical attention, or cause permanent bodily disfigurement. The same person may participate in self harming activities of both extremes at different points in time.

Sometimes self injuries are intertwined with trauma memories, so the traumas have to be completely processed and understood before the self harm can stop. Sometimes self injuries are intertwined with programming and required responses based on the demands of an organized perpetrator group. Safety from the perpetrators must occur in order to eliminate the self harm. Sometimes self mutilation occurs as an expression of feeling, or as a physical release purposefully stopping an emotion, or from confusion and needing to know what is or isn’t real. Learning to express and process emotions effectively must occur before the self harm completely stops.

While being willing to work with the therapeutic processes of untangling self harm issues, AbuseConsultants.com cannot be seen as an emergency crisis center. If you are in immediate life-threatening danger, call 911, or go to your nearest medical facility. You can also get support via a variety of suicide hotlines.

However, if you have ways to prevent or protect yourself from immediate life-threatening risks, and you would like to process the ongoing issues that reinforce your self harm behavior, please consider a clinical consultation.