What advice would you give someone who self harms?

Your skin isn't paper, don't cut it.

Your face isn't a mask, don't cover it.

Your size isn't a book, don't judge it.

Your life isn't a film, don't end it.

These scars tell of a broken past, not of a broken future. 

You're beautiful in your own way, believe it. 

I think that people shouldn't criticize self-harmers or people who are considering self-harm. If you insult them, yell at them, ignore them, shun them, or act generally disrespectful, it will make it worse. What they need is sympathy, they need help, they need support. Now that I've talked a bit about my opinion on Self-Harm, I want to go over it in a more detailed manner. You see, self-harm is a coping mechanism, the pain distracts from whatever the person is feeling at the time. It's like any other coping mechanism, it's used to bring the person back down to earth, to snap them out of whatever it is that they're in. This isn't why everyone who self-harms does it though. Some people do it to punish themselves, they feel inadequate or worthless, they feel like they deserve to be punished. Other people do it to get a message out, to get help, get attention. The people who use it to get attention are not just attention whores. In fact, more often than not, they need that attention. People who use their scars as a way of getting attention are usually not only dealing with depression, but have usually been neglected, they didn't get the attention they needed to develop correctly. Do not prejudge, ever, because the only thing it accomplishes is more pain. The next thing I want to talk about is Self-Harm as an addiction. I know what people are thinking as they read this, "What? Addicted to hurting yourself? Are you mad?," but it's true. Self-Harm is like a drug, no, it IS a drug. Let me explain. When your body is hurt, it releases hormones called endorphins, they're your body's pain killers. Well, when someone cuts themselves, their body releases these endorphins. When someone cuts, they feel pain, but only shortly. Usually, the pain goes away once the person stops cutting so all that's left is the high from the endorphins. Yes, I said it, the high. Think of it as getting high off your body's own pain killers because that's actually exactly what it is. And like all addictions, someone can't just stop on a moment's notice. It just doesn't work that way. Their body thinks it needs the cutting, in fact, a person who cuts can go into withdrawal if they try to quit cold. Also, even if they do manage to quit cutting, they'll still have to deal with the root of the issue. If cutting is someone's only method of coping with something, they can't just quit. Whatever it is will stress them out, make them more depressed, possibly cause them to just snap. Nothing in this world is in black and white and nothing is cut and dry. Everything is subject to change and there's always more than one factor at work. There's a lot more to cutting than most people think and that is why people assume it's bad. Ignorance. Lack of education on the matter. Thankyousomuch!