Articles
- Screening For Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol-Related Problems in College Populations
- Young American Women Drinking Harder
- Broad Drug Testing Adopted in Kansas Town
- Monthly Illicit Drug Use Highest in S.F. Area
- Marijuana, Memory, and the Hippocampus
- Nicotine Withdrawal Starts Within Minutes of Smoking
- Study: IQ Scores Not Lower in Babies Exposed to Cocaine
- Class-Action Status Sought in 'Light' Cigarette Case
Understanding Self-Injury and Self-Harm, Why people hurt themselves
Self-harm, also known as self-inflicted violence, self-injurious behavior or self-mutilation, is the deliberate injury of one's own body, causing physical damage and often leaving marks and scars.
There's no one single or simple cause of self-injury. People engage in self-injury when experiencing psychological and emotional pain or stress and then turn to self-injury in a misguided attempt to gain relief. Harming yourself physically can temporarily distract from intolerable emotions and can actually offer a sense of control over feelings and situations that might otherwise be unbearable. For some who experience chronic feelings of emptiness and emotionally numbness, self-injury is carried out as a way to feel something, even if the result is physical pain. Self-harm can also be an external way to express internal distress and despair, for those lacking a healthier manner of communicating those emotions.
Self-injurers explain that their destructive behaviors are carried out in an attempt to:
- Modulate or calm overwhelming and intense feelings
- Distract from emotional pain
- End feelings of numbness
- Reduce the desire to commit suicide
- Maintain control and provide distraction from painful thoughts or memories
- Punish themselves (some believing they deserve punishment for having good feelings, others for believing themselves to be "evil" and still others in the hope that self-punishment might avert worse punishment from some outside source
- Express of things that can't be put into words (rage, emotional pain, desperation for support and help)
- Expression of feelings for which they have no label -- called Alexithymia (literally no words feeling), is common in people who self-harm
Treatment for Self-Injury and Self-Harm at Life Healing Center
At Life Healing Center we are not afraid to join our clients in facing the uncomfortable challenges brought about by their desire to hurt themselves. We work to both directly and indirectly bring these frightening behaviors under control by holding our clients accountable to their actions and monitoring them for safety, while gently exploring and working through the underlying reasons for this problem. Our goal is to replace negative, harmful behavior with positive and useful emotional expression. Our treatment model combines intensive individual and group therapies along with specific education about their problem and the path to healing. Treatment is individualized for each person to address his or her unique experience and challenges. Clients participate in daily depth-oriented core therapy groups, along with skills groups that incorporate Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). EMDR, Art Therapy, Equine and Somatic therapies are also integrated in the treatment of Self Injurious Disorders.
The therapeutic group work offered at Life Healing Center encourages our clients to work together as a healing community. This community-based programming provides a chance for clients to experience the nurturing support that they have often longed for but could not access or accept. And our intensive Family Weekend offers an opportunity to promote healing and growth in their primary relationships.
