Understanding Why People Intentionally Injure Theirself • Hello, Healthy
If cases of suicide have been widely reported, cases of self-harm have not received much attention in the community. Suicide has an immediate consequence, namely death, disability, or serious injury. Meanwhile, the result of injuring yourself or self-injury usually covered up and cannot be seen with the naked eye.
People who self-injure are indistinguishable from others at a glance. Even people you have known for years may be hiding the habit. This extreme act is done for a variety of reasons. To understand why certain people choose to self-harm, consider the following important information.
Who is prone to self-harm?
Although anyone can start the habit, there are some groups who are more prone to doing so. Here are people who have a fairly high risk factor do self-injury based on the number of cases encountered to date.
- Young girls
- People with a history of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse
- People with behavioral disorders such as alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders, or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- People who have difficulty controlling or expressing emotions
- One who grew up in a family that opposed anger
- People who don’t have trusted friends, family, or relatives
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Why does someone injure themselves?
Usually the case self-injury occurs when a person faces situations and feelings that are very difficult to pass. Although some people are aware that this action is dangerous and wrong, there are still many who do not realize that self-harm is not the best way to manage events, feelings, or the memories it stores. Instead, they think that self-harm is the only way to go. These are some of the main reasons why they have such thoughts.
1. Divert attention
Sometimes people choose to self-harm because it can help them distract from things that overwhelm them or are traumatized. When life is hit by various problems, the mind becomes very full and noisy with various problems and things that are negative in nature. When busy cutting oneself or doing something similar that could cause pain or injury, a person can momentarily extinguish disturbing sounds in his mind. This is because the pain that was felt at that time could take his mind off the problem at hand.
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2. Relieve stress
When faced with such a stressful situation, everyone has different ways to vent the anxiety or tension. There are those who turn to sports and hobbies, some tell stories to their closest people, but there are also those who hurt themselves. This is done so that he can release all aggressive and violent tendencies without hurting other people, pets, or damaging things around him.
3. Avoid numbness
People who have had severe psychological trauma may become numb. Because the events being experienced are so painful or embarrassing, a person may experience dissociation. Dissociation is a situation in which you erase your memory of an event or erase the feelings that arise when experiencing a traumatic event. Usually this happens outside of your awareness.
When erasing feelings about an event, for example in the case of rape, the victim will not feel better. Instead, he will feel empty, empty, and worthless. By hurting himself, he will also recall the pain that had attacked him when he was raped. The pain reminded him that he was still alive and could still feel something like any other human.
4. Convey feelings
Often times people who do self-injury don’t really want to hurt yourself or kill yourself. However, they have problems communicating. They don’t know how to communicate negative feelings. It could be because telling other people that he is feeling hurt makes him look weak, it may also be because he has never learned to express his feelings at all.
Sometimes, these negative feelings are too strong to contain. As a result, this person chooses to hurt himself as a form of communication to others that he is going through a difficult time and he needs help. Whether it’s just listening to his story or helping him solve a problem. Usually he will deliberately give a signal or hint to those closest to him that he is doing this dangerous act. For example, letting blood be splattered in the room so that his parents will know he injured himself.
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5. Punish yourself
Victims of violence, be they emotional, physical, or sexual are often blamed and humiliated. Unconsciously, they gradually feel inferior and deserve to be blamed. In his mind, every time he did something wrong he must also be punished, even when the perpetrator of violence did not know the mistake. As a form of punishment, some people will hurt themselves by intentionally not eating, banging their heads, or cutting themselves.
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6. Seek satisfaction
Much like people who are addicted to alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs, those who often self-harm do so for mere gratification. Some people feel happy and excited after seeing their own blood or feeling very strong physical sensations. This mistaken view can lead to addiction.
Where can I get help?
If you have a tendency or have hurt yourself, tell the closest person you can trust immediately. If your condition is not getting better, you can see a psychologist or psychiatrist who will help you control the habit. When the thought arose to do self-injury, immediately contact the official hotline service of the Indonesian Ministry of Health at 500-454. If you or someone close to you got hurt because of self-injury, immediately call emergency services on 118 or go to the nearest medical center.
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