How do I help someone who engages in self-harm?
>>16624154
Tell them it hurts you when they do it and that they should seek professional help
>>16624154
A psychiatric intervention. You can't help them directly because you aren't a trained medical professional. You aren't a psychiatrist or a therapist and you have absolutely no resources at your disposal to help this person at all.
Anyone actively hurting themselves is eligible to be physically committed against their will. This person might just be an attention seeking fuckbag or they might actually be someone who needs immediate help. Either way, a couple days in a mental health facility might do them a world of good.
They might be pissed off at you but hey, they wanted attention, now they got it.
>>16624165
don't
chances are that they will keep doing it and feel even worse because now they think they are responsible for your pain
>>16624172
Part of me wants to agree with this. It can be a real eye-opener to actually be in the hospital. On the other hand, if I were a self-harmer and someone got me committed, I would just get better at hiding the self-harm after I got out. Not everybody who self-harms does it for attention.
Also in most jurisdictions they do not just automatically throw you in the funny farm just for cutting yourself. If they did that to everybody who self-harms, the hospitals would be standing room only. They will probably hold you while they treat your injuries and ascertain how much of a danger you are to yourself.
OP, if it were me personally, I would only call the authorities on them if I thought they might kill or maim themselves. So if they're a pain wimp and never do anything beyond light cutting, hitting (not the head area) or similar, I'd just urge them to get help and support them in their efforts to get treated. If they're injuring themselves in a way that's life-threatening, disfiguring, susceptible to infection, or that may cause permanent brain damage, then I would call the police. And if I wasn't sure, I'd probably call the cops unless I could get ahold of someone who could get through to the person better than I could. But then I have known a lot of self-harmers in my life.
TLDR try to reason with them if you can, but if you can't get through to them, you should probably call the police.
>>16624154
Offer to do the harming for them. That way it isn't self-harm anymore.
