How Can You Help Someone Else?

It is important to remember that being critical is likely to make the person feel even more self-destructive, whereas what they need to feel is accepted and cared for.

You must resist the temptation to step in and 'solve' the problem because healing can only be effective if the individual finds their own strengths and builds on them. What you can offer is support and encouragement.

• Try not to pay more attention to the self-injurious things that the person does than the healthier things. The person needs to know that you are not only interested in them when they harm themselves.
  
• Try not to get angry at them for harming themselves - This merely reinforces the self-disgust that they already feel and remember that he/she would stop if they could.