Mental Illness, in all it’s forms and guises has so many preconceptions and as much stigma as you can imagine… it’s little wonder it is not treated seriously by those who haven’t been involved.
So, let us look at a particular subject which will offend many people… because they have their misconceptions and prejudices about the subject and know nothing about it other than what they consider an offensive word and an occasional patronising mention on Casualty.
Self harm, yes the act of deliberately physically hurting yourself.. most of you will know that self harm is just attention seeking… and most of you are so totally wrong. No-one can condemn you for being wrong, because if you aren’t involved there is no reason you would know because it is not a subject to talk about in polite society.
So, let us blow this preconception to start with… yes there are one or two people who self harm because they want attention… the tens of thousands of others do it for a variety of reasons, primary of which is because it is so much easier to cope with the pain of cutting than the mental turmoil they face, for many it is a life saving act, as without that option, the stresses and emotional trauma can lead to suicide.
So, lets make this clear, self harming, slicing an arm, or a leg, with a knife, is not attention seeking, it is the sign of someone who is very ill, in so much turmoil that only by cutting can they find any peace from the horrors of the mental strain.
I have talked about self-harm and cutting… so let’s dispel that myth as well. Deliberate cutting is self-harm, but self-harm is a much bigger subject than cutting. There are a number of ways to inflict self harm, the first and most obvious one is by cutting, but people inflicting self harm can also burn themselves, hit heads on walls, and countless other acts that will inflict pain or damage on themselves.
The second area of self-harm is by substance abuse, there are the obvious examples of narcotics and ‘legal highs’, as well as alcohol. All frequently taken to excess to mask the emotional or mental turmoil. Simply by pouring drugs into you body you know you are harming yourself, same with excessive alcohol. We have all heard of those problems, but think about it… excess comforting eating, especially when the comfort food of choice is countless burgers, is a way of dulling the emotional pain, and is knowingly damaging the body… this is also self harm.
The final generic area is self harm by neglect, for instance refusing to drink which leads to dehydration and confusion, refusing to eat, being careless of your life such as simple things like crossing roads recklessly because you are so mentally disturbed and in so much pain that you really don’t care if that bus hits you or not.
So, in short, self harm is an extension of a deeper routed illness, often a mental illness, though not exclusively so, and needs to be treated with skill and compassion by everyone, to do that, we need to understand that the self-harmer, by which ever means, is a soul in torment, a soul who needs the support and understanding of family and friends as well as the emergency services and hospital staff.
A person presenting at Accident and Emergency with a gash inflicted deliberately by themselves needs special care, not only does the wound need attention, but there has to be a compassion, an understanding of why the person has taken this step, that issue also needs to be acknowledged and treated, it is no use stitching the wound and saying “off you go”… that is simply dealing with a symptom not the disease.
All too often, we disapprove, we tut-tut about people self harming, we see them occasionally portrayed on television, and usually as a pathetic figure who is generally cast aside for the real patients in hospital.
So, who most deserves our support and help… you young person who has a mental problem who is at the moment so racked by emotional turmoil that they have to take a knife to their arm and bleed to ease the torment, or the person who climbs on a roof and falls through the glass, inflicting similar injuries… absolutely… they deserve equal treatment for the injury… but one needs further treatment for the emotional condition, the other needs lessons in common sense.
Let us understand the torment that leads to self harm, let us please deal with those conditions and for gods sake let’s not abandon yet another generation to this suffering by continuing to treat them as second class citizens in the hospitals, by continuing to categorize them all as attention seekers, by generally relegating them to also-rans when it comes to treatment.
I know that self harm is a subject that most of us would try to sweep under the carpet because we don’t want to know about such things, I know we must never speak of it in public for fear of offending the general public, but if we continue to keep our heads buried in the sand we will never come close to dealing with this problem.
If you are not aware, it is something that is growing in epidemic proportions, as the stresses and pressures of modern life accelerate we will see more and more mental illness, more and more people self harming to ease their pain.
I don’t want that on my conscience, I want those in positions to help to get their fingers out, make sure that everyone involved understands not just the physical symptom but the causes and background, and to work with it, to help the individuals through their crises and to contribute to towards halting this epidemic of mental illness, self abuse, addiction and everything allied to it.
One final point… self-harmers are a pathetic waste of space who don’t deserve help. That is the last myth to blow away, I have worked with many committed people, fighting to bring about a better world for this, that or the other good cause, but I have seldom seen the sincerity, moral courage, enthusiasm and generosity of the group of youngsters, all carers and self harmers, I have been mixing with lately.
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