Understanding self-harm
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Executive summary
Nearly a thousand people, 827 of whom had first hand experience of self-harm, took part in SANE’s self-harm study, which started in 2005. Over five hundred were still harming at the time of filling in the survey. The most commonly reported method was cutting/scratching (93%) or burning (28%) the skin and the most frequently targeted body parts were arms (83%) and thighs/legs (50%). A fifth had overdosed on medicines.
Despite being thought of as something that teenagers and young adults do, the results from our survey show that self-harm affects people of all ages. The age range of those who were still harming at the time they took part was 12-59 years of age, and while some people were reporting that they had first started self-harming as young as four, others had not harmed until they were in their late fifties.
Although the majority were female, just over a hundred men who had at some time harmed themselves took part in the survey (this made up 12% of all participants who had harmed). It is still unclear whether self-harm really is that much more in common in girls/women than in boys/men, or whether the former are just more willing to talk about it and seek help.
What motivates self-harm – and what does self-harm do?
Our survey results showed that each individual act of harm can have a number of meanings and motivations, and these may evolve as years go by.
Self-loathing and need for punishment
Key findings:
- 55% of participants reported experiencing self-hate prior to harming
- 43% reported self-hate being a motive for self-harm
- 45% reported harming in order to punish themselves
- Those who harmed more frequently (daily or weekly, rather than every few weeks or months) were significantly more likely to be motivated by self-loathing or a need to punish themselves
- One in four participants reported feeling guilty, ashamed or embarrassed after an episode of self-harm
Self-loathing and a need to punish oneself were found to be significant factors in motivating self-harm right from the start; each was identified by well over a third of participants as a contributing motive for their first act of self-harm and the proportion of participants reporting these motivations increased to 43% and 45% respectively for more recent acts.
We also found that those who harmed most frequently (daily or weekly, rather than every few weeks or months) tended to report these motives for their recent acts of self-harm more often. The reason for this? We think it has to do with the fact that many participants tended to have a very negative view of their self-harm (not a surprise, given how stigmatised the behaviour is). One in four reported feeling one of the negative social emotions of guilt, shame or embarrassment after acts of self-harm, and one in eight felt hateful towards, angry or disgusted with themselves afterwards.
It is easy to see how this process can feed itself in a cycle of harm and self-recrimination, fuelled by stigmatisation and ill-informed prejudices of others. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, in many cases (and, as our findings suggest, especially for those who harm frequently) the best way to help someone to reduce their self-harm is to help them to feel alright about it.
