Deliberately injuring yourself can be a behaviour you have developed as a way to cope when life feels too overwhelming.

You might self-harm to distract yourself from negative thoughts, or because you feel numb inside and it seems a way to feel alive again. While self-harming might briefly make you feel better, it doesn’t change any of your problems or make the feelings you struggle with go away. Instead, it can damage your body, alienate the ones you love, and send you on a spiral of guilt, loneliness, and increasingly low moods.

Self-harm can include any of the following behaviours:

– cutting
– constant scratching and picking
– banging or hitting parts of your body
– burning yourself
– abusing yourself with substances (alcohol, drugs, overeating)
– pushing yourself into dangerous scenarios (unsafe sex, dangerous situations)

The desire to hurt yourself can feel like something you can’t stop doing. But with the right support, it is entirely possible to overcome your urge to self-harm.

Counselling can help you recognise the thoughts and feelings that trigger you to self-harm. This process involves working on raising your self-esteem and discovering different, healthier ways of coping with your stress and low moods.

Our professional counsellors and psychotherapists can also recognise if you are suffering from any other related psychological conditions such as bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or borderline personality disorder.