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Mag. My Hue McGowran
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E-Mail: mcgowran@newsfox.com
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London (pte036/30.05.2005/13:50) - In a recent interview with News of the World http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk athlete Dame Kelly Holmes revealed that she has struggled with self-harm for quite some time. A leading British mental health charity, SANE http://www.sane.org , says that the problem is reaching 'epidemic proportions', with people increasingly calling the SANELINE with 'intolerable mental pressures'.
Chief executive of SANE Marjorie Wallace says: "We believe that self-harm has become almost an epidemic, particularly among young people who are damaging themselves in increasingly disturbing ways."
Self-injury, which can take the form of cutting - the most common form - banging, burning, pulling out hair, or hitting oneself, seems to be a way for stressed, depressed and or emotionally-strained people to release mental and emotional pressures. It has not been fully understood or accepted until recently, with more in-depth research on the subject now being carried out.
It is more common among women, who often hide it from family, friends and colleagues out of shame and fear. Men are more likely to 'act out' in a physical way against others, rather against themselves.
Holmes admitted to self-harming - cutting herself - over a period of about two months during a period in which she was extremely depressed because of sports injuries. "I must have cut myself five times over the same area on my left forearm," the Olympic gold medallist said. "When the cuts bled I would stop.
"It really hurt but when you are in as much emotional pain as I was at this stage, anything else becomes irrelevant. I was in such a state."
Wallace says: "It is shocking that 170,000 people attend accident and emergency departments a year and 80,000 are sent home without any follow up care or treatment."
SANELINE receives thousands of calls from people who don't know any other way to deal with stress than to self-harm.
March last year in Britain saw the first ever national inquiry into the self-harm issue, with the Mental Health Foundation and the Camelot Foundation trying to establish causes and effects, particularly amongst young people.
Self-harming carries with it much the same implications as excessive drinking or drug taking: escapism, repression of emotions or a way of coping with mental and emotional stress. However, due to the actual physical signs and injuries sustained by self-harmers, outsiders find the problem difficult to grasp.
Like many who self-harm, Holmes' aim was not to kill herself. "I know deep inside I wouldn't have gone any further," she said in an interview. "The whole episode was nothing more than a cry of despair."
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