英语课程计划-Self-injury Awareness Day（在线收听）

Self-injury Awareness Day is on March 1 every year. This day is to raise awareness of the mental health problem of self-injury. People talk about why they choose to injure themselves in the hope they may prevent others from doing so. Organizations also run campaigns to raise awareness about self-injury to the medical community and to the general public. Around one per cent of us use self-injury to deal with difficulties in our lives. Despite this, it is a greatly misunderstood condition. Police and hospital staff often think self-injurers are suicidal and so do not give them the help they need. Some people wear orange awareness ribbons to show their support for awareness of this terrible problem.

Self-injury is the deliberate injury to your body without any intention to commit suicide. The illness is listed as a mental condition that is linked to personality disorders and depression. The most common way of self-injury is cutting the skin in places the injurer can easily hide. Many self-injurers prefer to conceal their injuries. Other methods include skin picking, hair pulling, alcohol abuse and forms of anorexia and bulimia. Many self-injurers say they get physical pleasure from their behaviour. The body releases natural drugs, endorphins, in response to physical injury. These give a person pleasant feelings and reduce anxiety and stress. Statistics show that four times more women than men do self-injury.