title: Self-harm as a means to manage the public and private selves: A qualitative study of help seeking by adults.
abstract: Adults (n= 25) completed online free text boxes about their self-harming behaviour. Thematic analysis identified three dominant themes: 'managing the private self', 'managing the public self' and 'moving on'. Transcending these themes was the notion of thresholds of change. Self-harm enables people to manage both their private and public selves. When thresholds of change are surpassed, the public self communicates a need for help. Self-harm exists within a precarious balance of well-being and can be a form of self-care. Help seeking is instigated when this balance is disrupted and continued if it offers a better form of self-management than the individual's own self-harming behaviour.
authors.affiliation: University of Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ogden
authors.affiliation: University of Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bennett
keywords: experiences; function; help seeking; qualitative; self-harm