A behavior in which people intentionally engage that causes physical bodily harm. Self-harm is often carried out when individuals attempt to deal with difficult or overwhelming emotions. Self-injury may take several forms, most commonly cutting, scraping, burning, biting, or hitting. Rationales for self-injury include feeling anger toward oneself or others and relieving pain, anger, and tension.
Maladaptive behaviors of various types, including self-scratching, illicit drug use, head banging, and tobacco use. The cause is unknown, but one theory is that the behaviors are self-stimulatory.