Self-harm
Deliberately hurting yourself as a way of managing an unbearable emotional state.
What matters to know
Most often it isn’t an attempt to end life but an attempt to survive the moment — a way of stopping the overwhelm for an instant, or of breaking through numbness. That is why condemnation and prohibitions don’t help; they take away the only strategy that was available.
What we do with it in therapy
First we find what the behaviour does, and build other ways of achieving the same. Only then does the behaviour itself recede.
Therapy is not emergency care. If you are in severe distress or at risk, call 112, an on-call doctor, or the Slovenian mental distress helpline Klic v duševni stiski, 01 520 99 00 (7 pm to 7 am).
See also
Neurodivergence
A term for brains that work differently — not a defect, but another way of processing the world.
Phobia
A strong, persistent fear of a particular thing or situation, out of proportion to the actual danger.
Pattern
A sequence that repeats: cue, response, outcome — and then from the beginning again.
