Advice

[hide-away]

Hey,
I used to self harm for about a year, and after I started one of my friends did to. At first I was really worried about her but recently she told me she had cut herself again, me and her best friend think it may be an attention seeking thing. I know that is not what self-harming is about, but I didn't tell anyone when I was hurting myself and tried so hard to keep my marks hidden but my friend freely talks about it and tells me. I am very loud and her best friend thinks she tells me because she knows I will talk to other people and they will find out. We are worried that she has suddenly started hurting herself again because she knows that it will get her attention when she tells people, and in our group we think everyone gets equal attention so this behavior is confusing as she has never acted like this before.

I really don't know what to do or say to get through to her how stupid this is. I don't want to lie to her and she knows people think it might be for attention but she says she actually had no reason to hurt herself.

Please help.
Hide-away xoxo

[dollypop]

Hey,

Its good to see that you care about your friend so much and that they have a group of people around them.

Self harm is about different things to different people, which can be confusing when you have experience of something happening in a certain way. Although your friend says she "actually has no reason to hurt herself" she may be feeling pretty confused herself and not know why she is doing this.

I think that if you can keep offering her support and encouraging her to talk about whats happening she will know that you are all there for her.

Also thesite has some really good articles, you may find the one about supporting someone who self harms (http://www.thesite.org.uk/healthandwellbeing/mentalhealth/selfharm/supportingsomeonewhoselfharms) useful.

Don't forget to take care of yourself too :thumb: