Are people who self-harm seeking attention?
Self-harming can be a cry for help – especially when young people first hurt themselves. But a lot of the time people who self-harm hide what they do rather than show people as they are scared about how other people will react. It can also be because it is a private action, part of maintaining control. Self- harm is something they feel that they have ownership of and that changes when other people become involved. Also, revealing self-harm can open a door to having to face the reasons behind the self-harm and people may not be ready to do that. Because self-harm can be hard for other people to understand, unfortunately there are some healthcare professionals, friends and relatives who think people self-harm to manipulate or seek attention. Taking this viewpoint is not particularly helpful as self-harm is often the only way some people know how to deal with their pain, even if they know it may be upsetting to other people, or damaging to themselves.
