A: Past trauma, dissociation, boundary violation such as physical or sexual abuse, substance abuse, personality disorder, eating disorders.
A: Injury is generally not the problem for your friend; it is the feelings behind the injuries. Injury is often combined with feelings of loneliness, anger, feeling numb, failure, guilt, helplessness or rejection; often these feelings stem from past life events. Reasons can include:
- self –punishment
- attempting to feel something other than numbness
- venting emotional feelings
- feeling control over their body
A: No. While your friend needs attention and the injury may be a cry for help, that is not the motivation behind self injury as the behavior is done secretly.