What causes self-harm?
If you’ve got mental health or problems such as depression or severe anxiety, you have a higher risk of self-harming. But if you do self-harm, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a serious mental illness – it may just be that you are feeling alone, isolated, stressed, frustrated, or angry about issues out of your control. Such issues might include one or more of the following: • Low self-esteem; • Poor body image; • Bullying or discrimination; • Unwanted pregnancy; • A serious illness that affects the way you feel about yourself; • Worries over sexuality; • Cultural/racial difficulties; • Feelings of rejection, lack of love and affection by parents or carers; • Parents getting divorced/family breakdown and conflict; • Physical, sexual or emotional abuse; • Domestic violence; • A bereavement; • Work pressures; • Money worries; • Depression; • The self-harm or suicide of someone close to you; • Isolation and loneliness; • Anxiety; • Drug and alcohol misuse; • Relationship problems.
