Self harm, enough awareness?

[resistance]

Self harm is a serious problem these days and I believe more awareness should be raised.

In the USA I understand you have a Self Harm Awareness Day, over here in the UK I haven't heard of such a thing. I don't see much media on the TV concerning self harm and if there is, it's normally pushed in for about 2 minutes of a 30 minute program or a short news broadcast.

People fail to see how serious self harm is and *too many* jump to the conclusion that ALL self harmers are attention seekers or they self harm to try and kill themselves because they do not understand the facts.

How many people do you see or hear, mainly on other forums give self harmers a lecture on how stupid they are, or how 'emo' they are for harming themselves? I see it waaay too many times and I don't know whether they simply don't understand the issue all too well, or if they don't WANT to understand it.

There was recently a two part TV series about Bipolar Disorder to raise awareness about it and I very much support the idea, but I would also hugely support a 2 part (or even a 1 hour program) dedicated to self harm because I strongly believe there's not enough awareness.

People need to know. People need to understand. If people don't learn about self harm then they are NOT going to understand which results in self harmers feeling more pushed away and cornered which is not doing them any good whatsoever.

Do you think there's enough self harm awareness where you are? Do you think you understand about self harm, or would you like to learn more?

 

[wienerman]

erm, well there was a story line on hollyoaks (soap opera) which was a massive feature but it came and went, that was the only place i have heard of it on english tv. i think it does need more publicity, but i suppose it doesnt get the viewers so they wouldnt try.

 

[delicateshadow]

I help out on a self harm support site, and we did lots for the UK self harm awareness day last year.

(I used to self harm, but stopped about a year ago.)

 

[SmilePretty]

there is a self harm awareness day but no one is aware of it really...idk it is really weird

 

[Marshmallow]

Like Alex said the only place i really heard about self harm wa in Hollyoaks where they had a story line about a teenage girl self harming. I think the media over here is trying to raise awareness over self harming, for example yesterday there was a 2 page centrepage story on a girl who was addicted to self harming in The News Of The World, she cut thousands and thousands of times and still managed to come thru all that but the media could deffiantly raise more awareness over in the UK.

 

[thedeafmusician]

Well there *is* awareness about self harm here... or well at school there is. Although its really the wrong awareness among most of the people my age here. Its so annoying... although I'm not really one to talk I guess, because before I started cutting and so on I thought the same too... but that just proves the point even more. People need to be educated about it, to erase any stigmas associated with it and so on.

TDM

PS Although admittedly there are waaaay more resources on self harm now... its just that unless you're involved in it directly chances are you aint gonna look at it coz you arent interested.

 

[theleastofthese]

I was never really aware of it til I discovered a close family member was doing it - then I started paying attention to it. It's more prevalent than most people think and the fact that so many young people are doing it is a sad statement on the condition of our society, I think.:sad:

Yes, I think there should be more attention paid to this subject and, especially, more done to prevent it as well as to stop it from happening.

least

We don't think much of ourselves, do we?:sad:

 

[kindtosnails]

I didnt vote, because there werent enough categories. If I had to vote I'd say sure there is getting to be more and more media attention over recent years...but not neccessarily of the right type. A lot of the media attention just reinforces stereotypes which does not help. OK, any awareness is good but it would be great if the media could finally cotton on to the fact that its not only teenage girls between the ages of what is it 13 and 17? that do it and that self injury is not only cutting.

OK im done.

 

[xan]

I think this is a tabboo subject for so many people, it makes talking about it that much harder and i think it is difficuilt for people to see the reasoning for doing it, it can be hard to explain. I think a lot more people self harm though than people think, i'm not sure if people even realise they do sometimes.. sports for example, the club i go to (jitsu) their moto is if it hurts it works...

 

[kindtosnails]

I think a lot more people self harm though than people think, i'm not sure if people even realise they do sometimes.. sports for example, the club i go to (jitsu) their moto is if it hurts it works...

Just to disagree with you there...i dont believe that all types of causing intentional pain to yourself is self harm/self injury...are you saying that anyone who goes to get a tattoo or a piercing and therefore knows that they will be in pain but does it voluntarily is self injuring? To me, SI is more about the reasons behind it and while in a vague sense i think its possible to not realise youre doing it on some level..i dont think that you could say that every member of your club is going there because of emotional pain..

However, for the first part of what you said, this has to be true. Sure, they do hundreds of surveys and theyve decided that teenage girls SI far more than any other gender/age group but do they think everyone admits it. I think males are much less likely to admit it and the same with older people. And i think thats partly a product of the media attention..that its portayed as something teengage girls do then grow out of. So how can all these studies say that girls are much more likely to SI than boys. Theres just no proof and there probably never will be, so..a question: Why is it even neccessary for the media to have statistics like that? Why not just accept that its an issue that affects ALL age ranges, both genders, that it can be anyone no matter how fantastic their life might look on the outside. hmm. I should really shut up now.

 

[xan]

I didn't mean everyone who does it, does it for that reason, i just mean that i think there might be a few people who will do things that are particularlly more dangerous because they've gone past caring about their own well being but don't conciously accept it.

 

[kindtosnails]

ok fair enough..not sure if i agree if thats the same as SH/SI but i guess thats the point in discussion..i just think theres a difference between say not caring and just letting things happen to you and purposefully self injuring. but its hard to say that anyway..i mean what is self injury? and what is self harm? a lot of people say that alcohol/drug abuse, starvation, sleep deprivation etc are all part of self harm. i guess it all depends on the way you look at it.

 

[xan]

well i stood there the other day as some guy punched me in the face, just sorta purposfully froze myself... i usualy just hit the mat as hard as i can, throw myself at the ground... but it stops me doing other things for now so i think it's like a medium rather than one or the other. and i do agree self harm is very different, this is just another type i guess...

 

[Serenity]

am a mod of a website called lifeSIGNS that are trying to get awareness out there it is also a chartiy now they try and rasie money for SIAD self injry awareness day on the 1 st of march but they also try to rasie mieny to keep the wedsite and forum open it just become a chartiy a few months ago and it has loads of info on selfinjury coming out and copeing meathords etc
http://www.lifesigns.org.uk

Serenity