“The first time I cut …. It was almost like I was in a trance .. My arms have never seen that much blood .. and all this pain and hurt that nobody could see was released” – Satveer, 25
The National Inquiry into Self Harm Among Young People recently reported that it affects at least one in fifteen young people, so chances are you'll know someone who's doing it, probably to deal with emotions that are hard to express. The charity Sane believe the practice now to be “almost an epidemic” among the young.
But it’s been known for a decade that if you're between 18 and 24, Asian and female, you're three times more likely than a young white woman to turn up at hospital after self-harm through, for example, cutting or overdosing.
As an Asian woman your chances of committing suicide are also twice the national average.
And NHS guidelines say that in the year after you've self-harmed the risk you'll kill yourself is 100 times greater than the rest of the population.
In this edition of the Asian Network Report Konnie Huq hears from young Asian self harm survivors to understand why they’ve done it. For Selina self harm was a form of punishment for feeling like a disappointment — over the years those thoughts became suicidal. Satveer witnessed domestic violence as a child and used to take mini-overdoses to escape her reality; it’s only recently after a few years of therapy that she’s stopped cutting herself.
These women give us an insight into their reasons for self harm and between them and the specialists we try to work out why Asian women, who have a popular reputation as high-flying cultural chameleons, self-harm to a far greater degree than other young British women.
© MMIX
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