The reason for this post is to kind-of educate those of you who know someone that is causing themselves harm. A self-injurer is someone who afflicts pain on themselves in hopes of releasing some emotional pain that has been caused by an extreme case of abuse, neglect, abandonment, deadness, betrayal. The most common type of self-injury is cutting, burning, and head-banging. Other forms are:
- carving
- branding
- scratching
- hair pulling
- biting
- hitting
It is not an attempt to merely get attention, it’s deeper than that and needs the appropriate attention. If you have a friend that is doing this, I would encourage you to talk with them about getting help. This does not have to be and there is help available. I’m definitely praying for those of you who are going to take the challenge of having a conversation that may not be easy to have. Although this is a super short post, the subject is huge! My prayer is that students would reach out and get the help they need. The first step is for them to reach out and tell someone either a parent, small group leader, teacher, pastor, coach or even a friend’s parent. If need be you can email me at acrumbey@gmail.com.
You may not need this and you may not even know someone who does, but self-injure is affecting all types of people. The people you do know might be self-injuring themselves and you are not aware of it. I would love for you to re-post this for those who may need to see it.
More info: Students Who Self-Injure
ac