Some people who can’t manage their feelings will feel bodily pain or become depressed, internalising their hurt, while those who self-harm or set things alight are externalising it. Both types of activity can be seen as signal fires, calls for urgent assistance. This can become a habit that is hard to break, and it is a risky one. It is a grave error when people dismiss acts of self-harm as attention-seeking – as if that were a bad thing.
