Not done a heavy post for a while, I've been prompted to by the news that cases of self-harm are rising, particularly amongst British Asians.
From what I've seen it is often (but not always) early childhood trauma in many cases that lead to self-harming and other kinds of releases like drug addictions and even extremism. The trauma and upset happening at such a young age means the person doesn't know what is going on or see the resulting thought patterns that lead to self-harming etc as a coping mechanism- even if it is more clearly manifested in later life. This makes it difficult to come out of because the person him or herself doesn't understand it. It seems that people going through this often have at root low self-esteem and a perplexing sense of lack of control in some areas of life (a feeling their life is not their own and they can't impact on it by their own action) even though they are intrinsically capable.
