Self Harming

In this essay, I’m going to briefly discuss and hopefully alter your perspective on certain aspect of the mental ‘illness’, typically termed “Self Harming” or “Self Harming Behaviour”. I present three interrelated points, the literal definition of the word, its nature within reality, and finally a brief juxtaposition with the Taoist Yin Yang notion.

From the outset I have to be open about my lack of knowledge on certain scientific ideas expressed within, so I’d be grateful if anyone more knowledgeable on the subject than myself could point out any mistakes, if I’ve made any.

Definitions

Self-harming can include addictive or destructive behaviours, relationships, having a means to an end, anything that harms your Self. To remove stigma from the condition/disorder/mind set – whichever semantic you prefer – we must take away the segregating stigma behind it.

Habits like smoking could be described as self-harming, it is extremely rare and virtually impossible these days, to be ignorant to the dangers of smoking. Yet over one billion of us indulge, and six million of us die each year for the pleasure.

The definition of Self Harm is: Deliberate injury to oneself.

If you’re aware of the risks of something, it can also be assumed that you’d consider these risks, and should you decide to continue with the action, in this case smoking – that as we know, even 1 cigarette causes damage to the body – is a deliberate injury to oneself i.e. Self-Harming behaviour.

A relationship with a controlling partner that is knowingly and deliberately continued despite the option to leave (of course that’s not always possible) would also fall under this category.

Depending on your psychological perspective – cognitive, psychodynamic, behaviourist, biological etc. – you could categorise any behaviour that causes harm deliberately, regardless of whether it was desired, coerced, or simply unavoidable in the situation (something you didn’t want to do but had to do, basically) as Self Harming.

Greater Reality

There exists in all of us, a duality that drives innovation, creativity, and in my view, even consciousness itself. If we look (albeit simplistically) at Annihilation Theory in Quantum Mechanics, it states that particles are constantly existing and annihilating at once, that is to say, that on the most base level of reality – that our present understanding and perspective allows of course – exists a microcosm of human behaviour. We are born of mesons and quarks, and therefore must be subject to the same mechanisms and laws; which also applies by extension to our interactions.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe popularised the idea that the Laws of Chemical Affinity may also govern human behaviour, despite it hailing to at least the 1600s, which has now become the niche and obscure field of Human Chemical Thermodynamics.

It delves into the idea that as human genetics and biology are controlled predominantly – in the view of our present scientific understanding (and Goethe’s), however accurate it may be – by chemical reactions, similar laws must govern human beings and our relationships.

He wrote the novella, Elective Affinities in 1809 to illustrate his theory, with each chapter in the book portraying a particular chemical reaction, by the characters actions & plot, which was later adapted into the play Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, which some of you might have actually heard of.

In the case of Quantum Theory, perhaps particular behaviours of the Elementary Particles can have parallels drawn that could influence our lives for the better. If these particles constantly destroy and create themselves at the same time, is that not very similar, if not identical, to the behaviour of human beings? This is obviously extremely simplistic, but for any physicists reading this I’m sure you’re smart enough to know I’m talking metaphorically, not proposing scientific fact.

If so, perhaps (annihilation) negativity is simply the caveat to positivity (creation). If we hadn’t previously come to the realisation that we must suffer to know the pleasure of good fortune, the above example provides another slant on the idea.

A Philosophical Position

Much Eastern – Buddhist, Taoist, etc. – philosophy describes the “Illusion of Separateness” as one of their central positions; you’ll likely be familiar with the Yin & Yang symbol.

The symbol consists of two interlocking water droplets that each contains a part of the other. The picture is not complete without order, and the order defines the shift in thinking. The seemingly opposing forces are complementary, and exist within each other in which ‘the whole is greater than the assembled parts”.

Simply put, maybe the bad things we do to ourselves, for whatever reason, are necessary in our lives for growth, and for our very existence.

This parallel is present in so many phenomenon, in both definitions, Life & Death, Pain & Pleasure, Growth & Stagnation, Knowledge & Ignorance, Strength & Weakness, etc. and the philosophical perspectives I touched on above.

Aside: Although the Yin Yang, in Qigong (pronounced chi kung or gung), represent the divine Masculine & Feminine energies that manifest the whole through their interaction, the comparison I draw still holds sway as I’m talking of that exact duality, within similar parameters.

Altering the perspective we hold about ourselves & the order of things within our reality, providing emotional and internally available frameworks and treatment for any behaviour deemed self-harming, could dramatically reduce the numbers of people treated or open about their behaviour.

We all self-harm to one degree or another, the only decision is how much you are willing to let it control your life.

How does it look?

According to the Mental Health Foundation’s publication “The Fundamental Facts”: “The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population.” [Horrocks, J, Self-poisoning and self-injury in adults, Clinical Medicine, 2 (6), 509-12, (2002), cited in Samaritans Information Sheet, Self-Harm and Suicide, March 2005 available here (accessed June 2006)]

The worst fact of course is that the above statistics are only based on those who come forward to a health practitioner and/or seek treatment. A truly accurate estimate would be incredibly difficult to obtain, primarily due to the confusion about the definition of the term, including the stigma attached and what is being diagnosed or regarded as self-harming behaviour by GP’s, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, not to mention within society.

Like most mental health issues, people feel they will be ridiculed by their peers or society for “not keeping a lid on it” or “feeling sorry for yourself”, not to mention, imbalanced mental health is an ultra-personal and destructive experience that can consume a person wholly, as such it should be treated with a dignity in society – I show above, how universal the reality of the situation really is.

We all self-harm to one degree or another, and shocking though they may be, the statistics I present above don’t provide the truth, they give insight into the scale of clinical admissions.

But what is the true picture?

“Self-harming” seems to have a stereotypical portrayal within the media as an ungrateful teenager, dressed in Gothic drapes and listening to too much Metal, making incisions into their wrist horizontally and wishing their crush would notice them. This, as I hope I’ve outlined above; is ludicrous and by no means a representative or even fair depiction of the reality.

I grant you, motivations may include the seemingly trivial, to downright abhorrent – but the underlying behaviour could be determined by inherent fundamentals which extend far deeper than we care to admit.

Conclusion & Further Reading

In terms of the stigma attached to self-harming, by changing our thought patterns and attitudes we can encourage people to be more open about their issues with trusted friends and family members.

In this instance, I wanted to show:

How Self Harming can be applied as a blanket term for myriad destructive ways of life that we all engage in.

That these things must be natural because even on the smallest known scale, such behaviours can be interpreted as reflective of our reality.

Which links in with the philosophical narrative of many ancient cultures, that we fortunately still hold onto today.

If you suspect a loved one is self-harm/injuring – visit the self-harm website below for the difference between self-harming & self-injuring – or that you indulge in self-destructive behaviour and would like to change your ways: I urge you to speak to someone or seek professional help, there are services out there that change people’s lives every day and they’re just a phone call away.

As I mentioned, it is an inescapable fact of life that we cannot break a cycle of self-destruction because it is a natural part of life – Birth, Life, Maturation & Death, is the cycle of all human beings – therefore the realisation of such an idea, can change your entire perspective on life. I repeat: We all self-harm to one degree or another, the only decision is how much you are willing to let it control your life.

I hope this brief essay has been of help to you in some way, and if you believe it may have some value to somebody else, please share it.

Image taken from here.