Self-Injury Awareness Day

Posted on March 1, 2006 in Mania OCD

Just a note that today is Self-Injury Awareness Day. If you suffer from borderline disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, anxiety, or depression, you may do this. Why? There is no one reason: you may be trying to punish yourself. You may be trying to explore boundaries. You may be trying to rid yourself of the numbness you feel in a mood. You might be (unconsciously) trying to create a rush of serotonins that allay a deficiency. You may be screaming for help. Or you may be substituting transient pain for the permanance of suicide.

You might compulsively scratch or pick at your skin. Hair pulling might satisfy your urge. You might hit yourself or knock your head or other body part against the wall. You might suffocate yourself using a pillow. Or you could be a cutter, drawing red lines across safe parts of your body using a sterilized razor blade.

You’re not in it so much for the pain, but to be rid of the Pain. In my worst mixed manias, I’d wrap a pillow around my face or hit my hand against the wall. I’ve picked at my skin and allowed teeth to go bad, savoring the pain I felt when I pressed molar to molar. It’s all about the Pain, as all self-injurers know. Not the pain. It’s the Pain.

Here is a list of sites which explain self-injury, its treatment, and the stigma well:

• A Bill of Rights
• Institutionalized self-injury (Opus Dei)
• National Self Harm Network
• Self-Injury: A Struggle
• SAFE Alternatives: Self-Abuse finally ends
• SIARI

Jil notified me of this observance.