Self Harm Awareness
It is a global issue that needs to be changed
Self Injury: The Facts
- Few people who self harm actually report it, making analyses difficult
- Self injury does not typically mean you are suicidal; it is most often used as a coping method
- 90% of self-injury individuals begin harming themselves during their teen years or younger.
- Cutting and other self-injury behavior crosses all cultures and socio-economic norms.
- Cutting and self-injury is a method used by individuals to take care of themselves, their feelings and actions.
- 40% of all individuals who commit self-injury type behaviors are males; 60% are females.
- Almost 50% of cutters or self-injury individuals have reported being sexually abused.
- Almost 50% of self-abusers begin at the age of 14 and continue into their 20’s.
- Some studies indicate that cutting and other self-injury behavior is learned from friends or peers.
- The UK has one of the highest rates of self-harm in Europe, at 400 per 100,000 population.
- People with current mental health problems are 20 times more likely than others to report having harmed themselves in the past.
- 1% of the total U.S. population, or between 2 and 3 million people, exhibit some type of self-abusive behavior (including eating disorders like anorexia, as well as those who self injure)
- 13% of British 15- and 16-year-olds purposely injure themselves
- In the U.S., it's estimated that one in every 200 girls between 13 and 19 years old, or one-half of one percent, cut themselves regularly. Those who cut comprise about 70 percent of teen girls who self injure.