The BBC is going to publish an article highlighting the disturbing images of wounds and self-injury that some websites and people publish on the Internet.

LifeSIGNS is not ‘pro-SI’ – we understand self-injury from the inside, and we recognise that self-injury is a coping mechanism, something that people come to rely on to deal with emotional distress and difficult situations. We don’t tell anyone to just ‘stop’ but we don’t promote self-injury either; we have a positive belief in health and happiness for everyone, and yes, we know from personal experience that it takes time, effort, energy and support to move away from reliance on SI.

Our recent Newsletter highlighted the balance between raising awareness, and promoting self-injury, or indulgently using sensational wording and shocking imagery. Considering the ease of web publishing, and the rise of social networking sites, it’s quite possible to stumble across people’s profile pages that show triggering images and videos.

The BBC will no doubt publish some triggering images of self-injury in an attempt to draw attention to how inappropriate some of these images are, ironic isn’t it? Publishing images and linking to dodgy pro-SI websites in order to crticise them…

It’s sad that the BBC isn’t taking this opportunity to tackle self-injurious behaviour in a more positive light as well; while condeming pro-SI websites, it could also highlight the many positive organisations and websites that tackle the issue of self-harm head-on, like LifeSIGNS and our members.

Come on BBC, don’t sensationalise and trivialise the subject like some glossy magazines, take the subject head on like you used to!