Self-injury Awareness Day is on March 1 every year.This day is to raise awareness of the mental health problem of self-injury.People talk about why they choose to injure themselves in the hope they may prevent others from doing so.Organizations also run campaigns to raise awareness about self-injury to the medical community and to the general public.Around one per cent of us use self-injury to deal with difficulties in our lives.Despite this, it is a greatly misunderstood condition.Police and hospital staff often think self-injurers are suicidal and so do not give them the help they need.Some people wear orange awareness ribbons to show their support for awareness of this terrible problem.Self-injury is the deliberate injury to your body without any intention to commit suicide.The illness is listed as a mental condition that is linked to personality disorders and depression.The most common way of self-injury is cutting the skin in places the injurer can easily hide.Many self-injurers prefer to conceal their injuries.Other methods include skin picking, hair pulling, alcohol abuse and forms of anorexia and bulimia.Many self-injurers say they get physical pleasure from their behaviour.
