Recent Media Interest in self-Injury

Yesterday there were several reports of the following in various newspapers:

http://www.itv.com/news/britain_64db340cd3f25e36518f3c4dd74697d5.html

I am slightly confused as to why these “shocking” statistics have suddenly been revealed. I read the book “By their own Hand” a while back (see my brief review in the Book Review section on the LifeSIGNS site), and have been in contact with the author with my opinions on the research.

While I am of the opinion that any self-injury awareness is usually a good thing, i am getting increasingly frustrated with articles in the media which set out to shock the public, and create moral panics (this frustrates me not just about self-injury I can assure you!) These articles rarely give information which is new, and they rarely give information as to how a person who self-injures can get help for their problems.

We already know that self-injury is a problem. We already know that statistics indicate that it is increasing. We already know the reasons behind self-injury, and that abuse can be a factor involved. Once again the focus on adolescents conveys the message that self-injury only affects younger people. Once again an article which doesn’t really serve a useful purpose. If you hadn’t guessed, I am being repetitive here because the media coverage of self-injury is getting repetitive.

What we need to be focussing our energies on are the ways in which we can reduce the stigma of self-injury, and how we can help people who self-injure find less harmful ways to cope with their problems. This is what the media coverage on self-injury needs to be about, in my opinion anyway! Feel free to disagree!