Define Self-injury Meaning

Self-injury
The act of deliberately inflicting harm on ones own body without suicidal intent or plans of bodily modification (eg. piercing your ears isn't self-injury). Typically self-injury is practiced to block mental pain with physical pain, or to provide the self-injurer with something that they can feel if they are emotionally numb. Common forms of self-injury include cutting with a sharp object such as a razor or a knife, burning (with an open flame, chemicals, a heated object (technically, this is branding, not burning), or friction from rubbing with an object such as a pencil erasor), scratching or scraping, and hitting (whether with ones own hands or another object).

Although it is sometimes misinterpreted as a suicide attempt, self-injury is actually a coping mechanism used to deal with powerful negative feelings and prevent suicide.
By Suzanne
Self-injury
Reasons for self-injury
- self hatred
- Loneliness
- Unable to communicate efficiently to others to relieve mental pain
- emptiness
- depression
- sub concious attention seeking (feeling of wanting to be loved)
- Emotional numbness (hurts self so one can check they can still feel)
- Intense anger to the world
- feeling of helplessness
- tension / stress
- feelings of being out of control of ones life
- check out self mutilation

jane cuts herself threfore jane self-injures/ self harms
By Arlina
Self-injury
The act of deliberately inflicting pain upon ones self without means to commit suicide. This can be done in a variety of ways both conscious and sub conscious. Self - injury (or self harming as it is also known) is done mainly to relieve emotional pain, like to release a pressure building up inside a person, and they feel they can't communicate efficiently enough to relive the pressure and resort to harming themselves to relive it. It can also be done as a sub conscious or even conscious attempt at seeking attention. This may be because the sufferer feels lonely or depressed.
Self-injury may also be a result of a tension or stress building up on a person who may relieve this stress by biting nails or pulling hair etc. Small, everyday habits.
Self-harm is commonest in young teenage girls. There are MASSIVE amounts of peer pressure on these girls now from friends, family and the media obsession with 'perfect people' It is not just a problem with teenage girls however, it is found in teenage boys, adults and elderly. The national statistics are 1/10 people self harm at one point in their life. Self-harming can include:

-Cutting/ scratching (any part of the body)- scratching can be subconscious

-Burning (can be done with a flame or friction burn. For example of friction burn, rubbing oneself with a pencil rubber until a burn is made)

-Poisoning

-Biting (biting lips and fingernails can be subconscious but biting skin is more of a conscious decision)

-Pulling out hair (Trichotillomania) - this can be subconscious

-Exposing self to heat and cold extremes

-Even piercing oneself several times, for the pleasure of the pain, not for the beautification.

Self harming can be taken too far and if you self harm, its a good idea to keep a first aid box nearby, and keep the object you are using as clean as possible.
Self-harm can lead to loss of limbs etc due to gangrene and infection and accidental death. People who self harm are statistically also more likely to commit suicide.....

1 outta 10 people self harm and the figures are growing
By Harlie
Self-injury
The act of deliberately inflicting pain upon ones self without means to commit suicide. This can be done in a variety of ways both conscious and sub conscious. Self - injury (or self harming as it is also known) is done mainly to relieve emotional pain, like to release a pressure building up inside a person, and they feel they can't communicate efficiently enough to relive the pressure and resort to harming themselves to relive it. It can also be done as a sub conscious or even conscious attempt at seeking attention. This may be because the sufferer feels lonely or depressed.
Self-injury may also be a result of a tension or stress building up on a person who may relieve this stress by biting nails or pulling hair etc. Small, everyday habits.
Self-harm is commonest in young teenage girls. There are MASSIVE amounts of peer pressure on these girls now from friends, family and the media obsession with 'perfect people' It is not just a problem with teenage girls however, it is found in teenage boys, adults and elderly. The national statistics are 1/10 people self harm at one point in their life. Self-harming can include:
-Cutting/ scratching (any part of the body)- scratching can be subconscious
-Burning (can be done with a flame or friction burn. For example of friction burn, rubbing oneself with a pencil rubber until a burn is made)
-Poisoning
-Biting (biting lips and fingernails can be subconscious but biting skin is more of a conscious decision)
-Pulling out hair (Trichotillomania) - this can be subconscious
-Exposing self to heat and cold extremes
-Even piercing oneself several times, for the pleasure of the pain, not for the beautification.
Self harming can be taken too far and if you self harm, its a good idea to keep a first aid box nearby, and keep the object you are using as clean as possible.
Self-harm can lead to loss of limbs etc due to gangrene and infection and accidental death. People who self harm are statistically also more likely to commit suicide.

Jane cuts herself with a razor. jane is a self-injurer/self-harmer
By Constantia
Self-injury
(see other self-injury definitions.) Commonly abbrieviated as SI. The term "cutter" is sometimes used to define a self-injurer, even though they may injure themselves in other ways. Please note that pulling out hair (Trichotillomania) is NOT self-injury. This is a disorder, common to OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). In addition, piercing yourself for the pleasure of pain is masochistic and is not usually connected to self-injury. Self-injury and masochism are different things.

Wendy claimed she scratched her arm on a rose bush, but I knew that she was a victim of self-injury.
By Rochelle
Self-injury
(1)To harm youself in a way to rid yourself from the pain you may suffer. To cut, bite,hit,and rub are acts of self-injury.(2) To harm yourself in a way to hid from the pain you may suffer inside(mental pain)

To cut your wrist because of depression or deep sadness
By Claretta
Self-injury
people who seek comfort from their life by hurting themselves. NOT EAR PIERCING etc. Can range from picking scabs to slitting wrists without suicidal intent.

to cut oneself
By Kelila
Self-injury
one person said that ear piercing is not a form of self-injury... typically it isn't, but it Can be used as another form of SI. i myself attempted to quit or atleast cut down on self-injury, specifically cutting, and it resulted in my piercing my own ears and using other forms of self-injury. thats what can happen if u try to stop by yourself and see little reason to.

but the variety of self harming actions is large, and anything that can harm ones self can be a form of SI.

Where'd all those piercings come from? I didn't see them yesterday, but you didn't go out last night... did you pierce them yourself??! Augh.. i cant imagine ever doing something like that, that would hurt...
(self-injury)
By Lonni
Self-injury
My deffinition, is taking blades and pushing down, then dragging them across my forearms or thighs as hard as i can. This may sound pretty psyco to you, and does to me when i read it back, but the truth is im just a normal 15 yr old girl going thru some shit atm! It helps for many reasons which i wont go into but one thing i do wanna say is that if u do self-harm then take my advice, talk to someone. Becuase of a certain situation my habbit and thereofre addiction was brought to my parents attention and therefore i have sorted it out. Ive been clean for more then 2 weeks. It really hard, i have massive urges n loads of high and lows but i am stopping. Im gonna start counsiling which is quite scary but im gonna get thru it! So please if u do self harm then try to give up becuase the reality is that it is really really dangerous and u cud end up rlly hurting urself. Finally if u dnt self harm, dnt think that people who do r psyco cos we arnt, we r just dealing with shit in the only way we know how! xxx

Self-injury is cutting urself with a sharp mettal object, and feeling calm and reassured when the blood trickles down. *when u feel dead inside, u bleed to know ur alive*
By Violet
Self-injury
fun
when the anguish and self lothing builds up so much that the only way to release it is to do your own thing
when the only thing you become afraid of and arent imune to is youself, taking control of your life,
something no one can take away from you
when hiding your work is like a game, mustn't let anyone know
they never cared, why should they now

i dont owe anyone an apology but myself. the adrenilin takes all the shit they say and do away,when the only other alternative is drugs
By Robenia