ABSTRACT

Self-harm is becoming more common. It can take a variety of physical forms: nipping skin, destroying work, cutting, burning, bruising, head banging, scratching, hair-pulling, poisoning and overdosing. It is usually a way for young people to release overwhelming emotions, to trigger pain in order to camouflage mental pain rather than being a cry for attention or an attempt at suicide. Some children may feel they deserve that physical pain. Once they start, it can become a compulsion. It may also be copying behaviour that they have seen in the media or online.