\u201cHalf of my friends self-harm or have a self-harm his\u00adto\u00adry\u201d, says a female stu\u00addent from my school, the Real\u00adgym\u00adna\u00adsi\u00adum Zurich, Switzer\u00adland. This has become almost the \u201cnew nor\u00admal\u201d, at least in my sur\u00adround\u00adings, because so many peo\u00adple seem to know some\u00adone strug\u00adgling with self-harm in one form or another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What exact\u00adly is self-harm\u00ading? Self-harm\u00ading, also known as non-sui\u00adci\u00addal self-injury (NSSI), is defined by the UK Men\u00adtal Health Foun\u00adda\u00adtion<\/a> as behav\u00adiors that cause inten\u00adtion\u00adal injuries. The most com\u00admon exam\u00adples are cut\u00adting, burn\u00ading, punch\u00ading or hit\u00adting parts of the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In my inter\u00adview with Nor\u00adbert H\u00e4nsli<\/a>, a fed\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly recog\u00adnised spe\u00adcial\u00adist psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgist for psy\u00adchother\u00ada\u00adpy, I learned of some forms which can be more dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to define. Nor\u00adbert H\u00e4nsli pub\u00adlished a book on self-harm\u00ading ear\u00adly in his career and to this day he offers coun\u00adsel\u00ading for NSSI and does work\u00adshops at the Zurich Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Teacher Edu\u00adca\u00adtion<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He explained that bit\u00ading your nails is gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly only defined as self-harm when done inten\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly, while com\u00adpul\u00adsive\u00adly pulling hair out is a spe\u00adcial form of NSSI, which is under\u00adstood as an inde\u00adpen\u00addent dis\u00ador\u00adder. Strong\u00adly scratch\u00ading skin is also part of it, how\u00adev\u00ader milder forms are more com\u00admon\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00adered ner\u00advous habits, which most\u00adly hap\u00adpen subconsciously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n UK MHF<\/a> says that world\u00adwide, one per\u00adcent of the pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion self-harms. It\u2019s most fre\u00adquent among 14 to 30-year olds, and an extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary 80% of self-harm\u00aders are women. Pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adals believe that 10% of young peo\u00adple self-harm, but it could be up to 20%. That rep\u00adre\u00adsents at least two to four peo\u00adple in every school class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowa\u00addays there is far more infor\u00adma\u00adtion cir\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading about self-harm\u00ading or self-injur\u00ading. \u201cWhen I wrote my book 30 years ago, NSSI wasn\u2019t a well-known issue, not in any youth coun\u00adsel\u00ading cen\u00adter or clin\u00adics\u201d Nor\u00adbert H\u00e4snli told me, \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean it didn\u2019t exist, but it was less prevalent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He fur\u00adther told me that there aren\u2019t any prop\u00ader stud\u00adies of self-harm in Switzer\u00adland, but pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adals can make esti\u00admates by look\u00ading at the num\u00adber of peo\u00adple who suf\u00adfer from spe\u00adcif\u00adic fac\u00adtors that can trig\u00adger self-harming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n