Alright, so for the past couple of months I've been working on SIAD (self-injury awareness day).

SELF INJURY AWARENESS DAY IS MARCH 1ST.

For those of you who don't know what SI is, read on. If you already know what SI is, go to the section that says ??????What you can do to help??????.



??????What is SI (self-injury)???????

Self-injury, self-harm, and self-mutilation (although most people who practice SI don't respect the last term) all mean one thing: when someone hurts themselves in order to cope. Most people who think of self-injury think of slicing the wrist (i don't know if this is how it's like at other schools, but in middle school these people would be labeled as Emo), however, self-injury is not just pertained to cutting. There are many forms of self-injury, which include cutting, burning, pulling out hair (trichotillomania), picking at skin (dermatillomania), biting, lip biting, hitting head against wall, bruising, and so on. Self-injury is no different than when someone drinks, smokes, or does drugs to relieve pain; all these actions do one thing to the person who practices them: to cope with problems.



??????Why People Self-Injure??????

There are two main reasons why people self-injure: because of hyper stress and feeling detached. When a person is feeling overwhelmed, angered, sad, depressed, etc., some people use self-injury to "breathe again", or to stop focusing on mental issues and instead focus on the physical pain. However, when someone is feeling detached they hurt themselves because it allows them to feel. Although pain isn't pleasant, it's still a feeling; thus it makes the person feel again.



??????Common Myth's About Self-Injury??????

1.) People who suffer from self-injury are suicidal.

Answer: No. Not all people who self-injure are suicidal. However, people who do self-injure are more likely to be suicidal and/or commit suicide. Like I said before, self-injury is usually nothing more than just a coping mechanism.

2.) Scarification is considered to be self-injury/harm/mutilation.

Answer: Completely, absolutely no. Scarification is a ritualistic form of tattooing when your skin is cut/peeled off in order to get a scar as an end result. Self-injury is not for body decoration, spiritual enlightenment, or fitting in/being cool.

3.) On