ABSTRACT
It is helpful to think of acts of self-harm or suicide as actions in which the person’s own body becomes the ‘object’ which they attack or want to get rid of in order to manage an intolerable state of mind.
As professionals working with people who commit acts of self-harm and suicide, we often feel strong and conflicting feelings, including anxiety and anger that someone might harm themselves when we are trying to preserve and protect life.
The psychoanalytic approach looks at the function which the behaviour serves for the individual, not just at a conscious but also at an unconscious level.
These functions or meanings of self-harm and suicide are multiple and varied.
Suicide and self-harm may have a great deal in common, not just at the level of unconscious drivers and determinants, but also at an actuarial level.
The act may represent a wish to destroy an aspect of the self, such as their sexuality if it is felt to be alien or shameful or abhorrent, their feelings of vulnerability if they feel that these leave them terrifyingly exposed or alone, or their feelings of rage and vengefulness, if these have been experienced as taboo and bad.
