Self-harm as a sign of hope

The author describes psychotherapeutic treatment with a woman who uses severe forms of self-harm to express her hope that she can find real understanding and an environment that can respond to her. She discusses the significance of the earliest experiences of maternal care and the particular importance of the skin; she describes how traumatic breakdowns in early care are unconsciously re-created in later assaults on the body, which serve to communicate distress, anger, protest and the hope that a real attempt will be made to relate to the person who self-harms. Self-harm is viewed not as a suicidal gesture, but rather, as an attempt to preserve life, and to represent and contain unbearable states of minds. The author outlines ways in which self harm can create a narrative and embody unbearable feelings and unspoken thoughts. It is seen as a form of self-expression and communication, both conscious and unconscious, which is not wholly destructive but has important hopeful and self-preservative aims.