International holidays - Self-Injury Awareness Day

Every year on March 1, “Auto-Injury Awareness Day” is celebrated in all countries of the world. It was created so that people prone to self-harm could report their problem and ask for help from specialists. In order to draw public attention to this problem, various organizations are holding events aimed at breaking down generally accepted stereotypes about self-harm. This term refers to self-harm by a person without suicidal intent. Auto-aggression or self-harm may be one of the symptoms of various mental disorders. Most often we are talking about such forms of self-harm as scratches and cuts. Less common are burns, blows, ripping wounds or pulling out hair. Participants in military operations, young women, representatives of sexual minorities, people living in boarding schools or in prison, as well as people who were subjected to violence in childhood are most susceptible to auto aggression. Patients diagnosed with selfharm engage in self-harm to numb feelings of guilt, relieve intense emotional pain, or get rid of difficult memories. Gradually, auto-aggression becomes a habit and manifests itself even when the negative factors causing it disappear. That is why it is very important to provide people with such an illness with timely professional help. In order to cure a patient from self-harm, it is necessary to find the true cause of the disease and eliminate it. This practice is carried out by qualified psychologists and psychotherapists who conduct conversations with patients and choose treatment methods, including psychotherapeutic techniques. They should be aimed at replacing self-harm with less dangerous and traumatic actions. A few weeks before this, people who have a predisposition to self-harm decide to voice their problem, and public and medical organizations hold all sorts of events to draw the attention of residents of many countries to the problems of self-harm. Participants in such events often wear a symbolic orange ribbon, and also write the word “LOVE” on their hand or draw a butterfly on their wrist. A special bracelet can also be a symbol of Self-Harm Awareness Day. To help people with auto-aggression, the Butterfly Project was organized. Its essence is that when the need for self-harm arises, a person draws a butterfly in the place where there could be wounds or cuts. It is necessary to name the butterfly in honor of a loved one and after that the drawing cannot be erased. If the patient decides to self-harm again, the butterfly dies. As part of this project, butterflies are drawn on the hand not only by people who suffer from self-harm, but also by those who are not indifferent to their problems and want to provide support. They often name butterflies in honor of their friends who suffer from this disease and cannot cope with their trouble on their own. The main goal of people who celebrate Self-Harm Awareness Day every year on March 1 is to destroy all stereotypes that have developed in society regarding self-harm, as well as to help all people who suffer from this disorder. An important result of these actions should be universal understanding and empathy, without which it is almost impossible for a person to cope with such problems.